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Posted on 12/21/2008 9:05:03 PM PST by neverdem
Ron Ace's idea to cool the planet by evaporating water could provoke controversy because it collides head-on with a concern of environmental scientists: that water vapor is a potent greenhouse gas.
A recent Texas A&M University study, based on satellite data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, warned that if water vapor levels in the atmosphere continue to rise, it "could guarantee" an increase of several degrees Celsius in the Earth's temperatures over the next century.
These scientists warned of potential "positive feedback," in which water vapor traps heat near the surface, the warmer temperatures cause increasing ocean surface water to evaporate, producing even more water vapor, further heightening the trapping effect and beginning the cycle anew.
Kenneth Caldeira, a climate scientist for the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University whose computer simulation of Ace's invention suggests it would significantly cool the planet, said that scientists are still trying to sort out the complicated role of water vapor.
Among its mixed effects:
-It absorbs latent heat near the earth's surface and transports it to higher altitudes, for a cooling effect.
-When it condenses at higher altitudes, it releases the latent heat, which then can radiate into space, producing more cooling.
-It's a greenhouse gas, trapping heat and causing warming.
-It can form low clouds that reflect solar energy, a cooling effect.
-It can form more high clouds, which block some sunlight but mostly prevent the release of infrared radiation from below, another warming effect.
Robert Park, a retired University of Maryland physics professor, said scientists are right to worry that water vapor and other greenhouse gases could lead to thermal runaway - a cycle where two or more factors feed off another to propel temperatures higher - but that no one has proved that it's occurring because the atmosphere is so complex.
"This is what makes climate such a horrendously difficult thing to calculate ... by far the most difficult calculation that man has ever attempted," Park said.
Ace hopes that his global cooling invention will help settle the matter.
ON THE WEB
The Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology: http://dge.stanford.edu/DGE/CIWDGE/CIWDGE.HTML
More madness here on same subject and patent in question:
http://ipbiz.blogspot.com/2008/12/patent-efforts-of-ron-ace-in-geo.html
Thanks for the link.
Thanks neverdem.
Click on POGW graphic for full GW rundown
Ping me if you find one I've missed.
It is not rational to take them seriously.
Quite frankly, these people FRIGHTEN ME.....
They will soon have one of their own in the White House who is NOT afraid to use executive order to implement the socialist agenda known as "fighting global warming".
He will have a Congress and a Senate STACKED with these same crazies.
He will have the chance to stack the court system and and fortify the Supreme Court by replacing the aging libs who will push this anti-business, anti-employment, anti-freedom agenda.
We are in deep $hit. The scheme from this article shows that the libs have not learned the age-old lesson that sometimes the best action is no action. That sometimes the consequences are worse than the "problem" solved, especially when the "problem" HAS NOT been demonstrated to be caused by man or is a problem.
SHHHH
Thats the NEXT crisis for profit.
Don't spoil it.....
This isn't a bad thing, they ARE telling us there is a shortage of fresh water.
New building construction is being encouraged to use waterless urinals and composting toilets in commercial buildings. I kid you not!
AGW types remind me of this old joke: “Scientist are the leading cause of cancer among lab mice.” with an addendum: “Congress issues regulations to any control exposure to scientist by the general public.”
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