SOOT AND ARCTIC ICE--A fixable problem

Climate Science Blog: via Watts Up With That? ^ | August 28, 2009 | Kiminori Itoh

[Brad from Tennessee]

EXCERPTS:

. . .the ice extent in the Arctic sea was significantly reduced in the 2007 summer and recovered after that. Since the amount soot should be proportional to that of sulfate, also the amount soot transported to the Arctic may have a peak in 2007, and may explain the dramatic reduction of the sea ice extent; the soot deposited onto the ice surfaces absorbs sun light of Arctic summer, gives heat to the ice, and lets it melt. This process should be particularly effective during summer of the Arctic when the sun does not set.

. . .Thus, I can claim that the influence of the soot is likely large. Then, according to the spirit of the precautionary principle, the soot from China should be reduced even if the scientific basis is not sufficient. The precautionary principle should be applied not just to CO2, but to other primary factors of climate changes. If this is not possible just because there is no statement on soot in the FCCC (Framework of Convention of Climate Change), we need another convention (or protocol) which enables us to treat soot properly. Otherwise, countermeasures on climate change will be useless.

[Brad from Tennessee]

Recent fluctuations in Arctic ice are likely caused by soot from Chinese coal-fired power plants. Aerosols produce both warming and coolong symptoms in the "global warming evidence." Airborne soot is a problem that can be improved over time through power plant design and should top the agenda of any practical list of solutions.

[Brad from Tennessee]

BETTER LINK:

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/08/21/soot-and-the-arctic-ice-%E2%80%93-a-win-win-policy-based-on-chinese-coal-fired-power-plants%E2%80%9D/

[steelyourfaith]

 

Beam me to Planet Gore !

[Brad from Tennessee]

Thanks. Great link.

Kiminori Itoh’s reference to the cooling effects of soot in the atmosphere got me to thinking a Perfect Storm for an ice age could be building. I'm not a scientist or a scholar. But with the sun's influence currently waning what would happen if the earth experienced several major volcanic events over a year or so? Could a weak sun and an increase of sulfur dioxide tip the world into an ice age or mini-ice age?

[rlmorel]

Well, we know from past experience, all it takes is one BIG eruption...look at Mount Tambora in 1815...

[Brad from Tennessee]

I was in Central Florida in winter of 1984-85 when the northern swath of the citrus industry was wiped out by 15 degree weather. The fruit wasn’t just ruined, the trees froze solid and split open. The following winter saw more abnormal freezes. Later this was attributed to the 1982 El Chichon volcano in Mexico.

[mvpel]

The Cooling World
Newsweek, April 28, 1975

Climatologists are pessimistic that political leaders will take any positive action to compensate for the climatic change, or even to allay its effects. They concede that some of the more spectacular solutions proposed, such as melting the Arctic ice cap by covering it with black soot or diverting arctic rivers, might create problems far greater than those they solve. But the scientists see few signs that government leaders anywhere are even prepared to take the simple measures of stockpiling food or of introducing the variables of climatic uncertainty into economic projections of future food supplies. The longer the planners delay, the more difficult will they find it to cope with climatic change once the results become grim reality.

[Brad from Tennessee]

I remember snow falling in January 1977 in Lakeland, Florida. We thought we could survive an ice age in Florida but realized we'd be welcoming a 100 million or so permanent snow birds as the ice sheet moved south.