Hello Neil, Andrew et al.
Cloud seeding (principally to make rain) has had a long and highly chequered
history in the 60 years since Vonnegut, Schaefer & Langmuir did their
pioneering work. Many studies since then were contaminated by commercial
interests. There is no essentially no consensus as to whether and under what
circumstances it will work. This is especially true for clouds that contain
ice. Whether seeding will enhance, reduce or have negligible effect on such
clouds depends on: atmospheric stability, cloud-base temperature, updraught
speed, presence or absence of conditions in which natural secondary can
function, level and location etc etc. I think there is good reason to feel
sceptical of studies reporting quantitative estimates of changes induced by
seeding. My view is that - as with several geoengineering schemes - what is
urgently required is well-controlled , comprehensive field experiments. Only
then will it be possible to establish whether cloud seeding might, on a
regional scale, be important vis-a-vis climate change.
Cheers, John.
********************************
Quoting Neil Farbstein <[email protected]>:
> I'm glad we agree. Small cloud seeding experiments over Greenland
> should be practical. We should give this some thought and modeling.
> Can you do that at your lab? Google satellite pictures and weather
> satellites can locate clouds that are likely targets to seed; The
> bigger clouds in the places that are most strategic.
> An international organization or groups of industrialized nations can
> pay the local residents or the greenland government subsidies for
> participating in the cloud seeding program.
>
> On Dec 15, 8:27 pm, Andrew Lockley <[email protected]> wrote:
>> For clarity, the main reason my for suggesting cloud seeding is that it can
>> be used to build up greenland to a height where the air temperature is low
>> enough to sustain the ice sheet. The could potentially reverse the
>> catastrophic Greenland tipping point - which will unleash several metres of
>> sea level rise over a few hundred years. Game over for London, Venice,
>> Florida, New York, etc. if that happens. Worth a bit of jet fuel or a few
>> rockets to prevent that, I'd argue.
>>
>> A
>>
>> 2009/12/15 Neil Farbstein <[email protected]>
>>
>>
>>
>> > I suggested the same cloud seeding strategy a month ago. Somebody
>> > authoritative said that the biggest snowfall recorded over the
>> > alaskan arctic caused the biggest melt water recorded during the
>> > spring. That's anecdotal evidence but I dropped the idea of working on
>> > that anyway.
>>
>> > There wont be a melt water problem if clouds are seeded over large
>> > parts of the gulfstream to cool it and the winds that blow off it.
>>
>> > On Dec 15, 5:47 am, Andrew Lockley <[email protected]> wrote:
>> > > I note the use of cloud seeding by the Chinese, and its
>> unexpected effect
>> > in
>> > > causing huge snowfalls in Beijing. It seems that there may be
>> two useful
>> > > geoengineering approaches with this technique, and I'd be interested in
>> > > hearing comments.
>>
>> > > 1) Rebuild ice - by inducing snowfalls over Greenland,
>> Antarctica and the
>> > > Arctic, it would perhaps be possible to maintain ice. In Greenland,
>> > where
>> > > the height of the ice cap is critical, this would seem a particularly
>> > > appealing prospect.
>> > > 2) Albedo modification - Fresh snow is whiter than old snow, especially
>> > in
>> > > polluted areas. Is the albedo change worth pursuing? My guess is not.
>> > > HOWEVER, I suspect that triggering significant autumn and spring
>> > snowfalls
>> > > in permafrost regions, we could potentially significantly modify albedo.
>>
>> > > I invite comments.
>>
>> > > A
>>
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--
John Latham
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Tel. 303-444-2429 (H) & 303-497-8182 (W)
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