[meteorite-list] Cosmic Dust in Terrestrial Ice ENDING

From: Larry Lebofsky <lebofsky_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat Aug 5 18:29:04 2006
Message-ID: <1154816939.44d51babb64bb_at_hindmost.LPL.Arizona.EDU>

Sterling:

But you should also realize that DHMO in its frozen state (which occurs during
ice ages) has a high albedo and hence reflects most of the incoming solar
energy, again cooling things off.

Larry

Quoting "Sterling K. Webb" <sterling_k_webb_at_sbcglobal.net>:

> Hi,
>
> Thanks to a defective mouse gone click-crazy, my post got
> sent before it was finished. It ended in mid-sentence:
>
> > And, for Rob Matson, I just want to point out, an ice age is
> > what happenes when you...
>
> and if I'd finished it, would have read:
>
> > And, for Rob Matson, I just want to point out that an ice
> > age is what happens when you control DHMO pollution!
>
> Yes, that nasty "greenhouse gas," DHMO is sequestered
> very nicely in an ice age.
> I understand that "global warming" scientists are still trying to
> decide whether the role of DHMO is to have a net warming or a
> net cooling effect. DHMO, like carbon dioxide, has absorption
> bands for IR, hence heats the atmosphere, but DHMO clouds
> increase the planetary albedo and reflect incoming radiation,
> hence cool the planet. Which effect is strongest, warming or
> cooling? They puzzle over their computer models.
> Well, one thing an ice age has is clear bright cloudless skies
> and very dry air. There's no doubt about that. Both warming
> and cooling effects of DHMO are reduced, but what is the
> proportionality coefficient?
> Less atmospheric DHMO = cold world. Likely, more DHMO
> = warm world. Of course, it's a feedback cycle and very complex,
> yada, yada. But geological history is a grand laboratory notebook
> of experiments we would never want to perform. Better to just
> look'em up in the book.
> So, it's probably true that DHMO is a "dangerous" greenhouse
> gas. It's still better than an ice age...
>
>
> Sterling K. Webb
>
>
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-- 
Dr. Larry A. Lebofsky
Senior Research Scientist
Co-editor, Meteorite                      "If you give a man a fish,   
Lunar and Planetary Laboratory               you feed him for a day.
1541 East University                       If you teach a man to fish,
University of Arizona                        you feed him for a lifetime."
Tucson, AZ 85721-0063                                     ~Chinese Proverb
Phone:  520-621-6947
FAX:    520-621-8364
e-mail: lebofsky_at_lpl.arizona.edu

Received on Sat 05 Aug 2006 06:28:59 PM PDT