Sam Fahnrich
Earth's Bounty
I've spent the previous entries discussing what Global Warming is and the effect it has on our planet. I've also collected and shared articles describing how to become environmentally friendly, and the benefits of reducing your energy consumption. Now, I'll talk about how scientists are using environmental elements to decrease green house gases.
As in the past, present and perhaps future, humanity has a tendency to change things as they become unpleasant. For instance we have plastic surgery, divorce, cat litter, and cologne to keep us feeling good about ourselves. In changing the earth we have dams, underground transit, bridges suspended over canyons and waterways, and irrigation systems to keep things convenient. Although there are plenty of other things to alter Earth with, for this I want to focus on sulfate aerosols.
"Sulfate aerosols, commonly released by volcanoes, serve to scatter incoming solar energy in the stratosphere, preventing it from reaching the surface."
Are you thinking about it, science + volcanic aerosols = cooler temps. How? Remember how Global Warming works, as the Sun's rays bounce off of the Earth's surface they get trapped by the gases? If the rays don't make it to the surface they can't bounce back, be trapped, and increase atmospheric temperatures. Oh.
Scientists have and will conduct molecular studies of volcanic properties, produce synthesized copies of the compounds, create a down-scaled model of our environment and test their ideas.
What did they find? It works, but the amount of aerosols required for a significant decrease of gases is incredible. In my own words, every factory in Mexico, Brazil and China would have to start making this stuff. Either that, or every volcano on Earth would need to erupt.
In conclusion, it is effective in reducing green house gases, but not so good to the health of the environment and inhabitants of Earth.
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Journal reference: Exploring the geoengineering of climate using stratospheric sulfate aerosols: The role of particle size. Geophysical Research Letters (GRL) paper 10.1029/2007GL032179, 2008; http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2007GL032179
Authors: Philip J. Rasch and Danielle B. Coleman: National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder Colorado, U.S.A.;Paul J. Crutzen: Max Plank Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany; Also at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, U.S.A.
Adapted from materials provided by American Geophysical Union, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
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