Balloonosphere: In the SPICE experiment (stratospheric particle injection for climate engineering), this balloon will hold a rubber hose one kilometer high.
This has to be a joke. If it isn't, it's really sad......
Posted on 09/17/2011 7:30:16 AM PDT by Red Badger
In October, British researchers supported by the U.K. government will attempt to pump water a kilometer into the air using little more than a helium balloon and a rubber hose. The experiment, which will take place at a military airfield along England's east coast, is meant as a test of a proposed geoengineering technique for offsetting the warming effects of greenhouse gases. If the balloon and hose can handle the water's weight and pressure, similar pipes rising 20 kilometers could pump tons of reflective aerosols into the stratosphere.
The scheme, called SPICE (stratospheric particle injection for climate engineering), is one of several proposed geoengineering methods under study. In this case, the idea is that particles injected into the stratosphere would reflect a small percentage of the sun's energy back into space, thereby cooling the planet. The concept seeks to mimic the cooling effect of volcanoes that inject sulfide particles into the stratosphere in large quantity. A 2009 study by the U.K. meteorological office estimated that 10 million metric tons of sulfide particles injected annually into the stratosphere would cool the planet by approximately 2 °C within a few years.
Other methods of geoengineering have also been tested, including fertilizing oceans to encourage algae blooms and pulling carbon dioxide out of the air. But a 2009 report by the U.K.'s Royal Society concluded that reflective aerosol injected into the stratosphere would be the least expensive and most effective way to rapidly cool the planet.
In addition to the pipe tethered to the balloon, airplanes and rockets could be used to deploy the particles. But Hugh Hunt, a senior lecturer in engineering at the University of Cambridge and a member of the SPICE project, says the balloon-and-pipe approach that his group is testing would be significantly less expensive. "Trying to use airplanes or rockets ends up costing 100 or 1,000 times more than a pipe and balloon," Hunt says. "At an altitude of 20 kilometers, an airplane can only carry one, maybe two, tons of payload. That means five to 10 million flights per year, burning roughly 1 percent of global oil production. It seems unlikely to me that that would be economically viable when a few dozen pipes would do just as good a job."
The current pilot program will pump 100 kilograms of water per hour to an altitude of one kilometer. Full-scale designs call for as many as 64 pipes spread around the world, each lifting five kilograms of sulfur dioxide or other reflective particles per second—approximately 160,000 metric tons per year. Each pipe alone would weigh 30 tons and would be held aloft by a balloon 100 meters in diameter, slightly larger than the largest balloons ever built. The biggest challenge of all, however, would be developing a flexible pipe that can withstand ultrahigh pressures. To raise the particles to a height of 20 kilometers, the pipe would have to withstand 4,000 to 6,000 bar, or atmospheres of pressure.
Balloonosphere: In the SPICE experiment (stratospheric particle injection for climate engineering), this balloon will hold a rubber hose one kilometer high.
This has to be a joke. If it isn't, it's really sad......
Pimg!........
—yep—should be in the “you can’t make this stuff up” file-—
Over-educated idiots, lacking common sense. It is really sad,,,,,,,,,,,
The weight of the pipe, even lightweight plastic, must be taken into account, as well as the tremendous friction with the walls of the pipe compared to the very small volume cross section of the pipe.
The pressures needed at the bottom of the pipe would be so huge that it would burst any pipe light enough to be lifted aloft, or the pipe would be so heavy to withstand the pressure that it couldn't be lifted.
Another perfect plan on paper.
“Over-educated idiots, lacking common sense. It is really sad,,,,,,,,,,,”
How true. My father used to say that “They keep learning more and more about everything until they know everything about nothing”
They are also designing new aircraft and side arms!!!
Given the size of the pump needed, I’m thinking that they’ll get more particles in the atmosphere from the coal fired generating plan needed to power the pump than they will from the water.
20 km is approximately 65,000 feet. Three times worse than I originally thought...
As always he is getting his supplies from the Acme Co.
Even if we could do it, should we? I prefer to keep my lungs sulfide-free, thank you.
Ummm.....don’t you get sulfur dioxide by burning oil and coal? Drive your car and save the world! I love it!
We used to get it from diesel engines............
Maybe they’re gonna pump up one molecule at a time...........
First, they can’t.
Second, they won’t.
You’re safe...........for now...........
From the article:Wow, I thought the Brits were on an austerity program. This seems pretty frivolous, and probably very, very expensve.
British researchers supported by the U.K. government will attempt to pump water a kilometer into the air using little more than a helium balloon and a rubber hose.
Reading the article, this is even scarier than I first thought.
After testing with water, these clowns plan to pump massive amounts of sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere. Isn't that the chemical in industrial smoke/exhaust that causes acid rain? So, to cool the planet, they plan on seeding acid rain clouds from the top. Brilliant!
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Happy Constitution day, September 17, 2011. — cc2k |
20 k elevation would be 28,000 psi of static pressure.
Need a bit of safety margin and some odds and ends.
The lower section will be somewhat hefty.
The upper will have to support all the weight.
Methinks they will need a bigger blimp.
Ah , make your own acid rain ? This stuff will just freeze
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