claim: Given that a doubling of carbon dioxide would change the surface heat flux by only two watts per square meter, it is evident that a small change in cloud cover can strongly affect the response to carbon dioxide.
evidence: CO 2 absorbs and emits infrared radiation at wavelengths of 4.26 µm ( asymmetric stretching vibrational mode ) and 14.99 µm ( bending vibrational mode ) and consequently is a greenhouse gas that plays a significant role in influencing Earth's surface temperature through the greenhouse effect.