"I thought there was a canopy of water above the earth, not below.'
I never heard of a canopy except perhaps the water in the air itself being called that. But the King James states "...and the vaults of the great deep opened...". I noticed this wording in church when i was eight years old and it has always made me wonder why it was phrased that way. The water, if it came from the earth would have been ejected upward and then 'rained down'.
The interesting thing about water coming from INSIDE the earth is that such a catyclisim would leave its mark upon the earth. There have been recent studies tha purportedly show such a mark. I recall seeing cable special on the subject.
I will look for info on that. The canopy is a blanket of water or mist. It protected the earth from the sun I guess and gave us a greenhouse effect. There would have been no rain but dew covering the earth. More like a garden of Eden affect. Thats just a theory I once read.