John and Mike- Thank you for taking the time to consider how Lair might be applied to increase global albedo or to possibly mitigate storm severity, as well as other potential applications such as "frosting" permafrost to make it more reflective or fighting wildfires by releasing liquid nitrogen (LN2).
I think because Lair can provide a number of different benefits (which is a good thing), this has led to some confusion over how specific strategies might work. I’ll take the blame on that- I’ve probably tried to pack too much information in my previous posts. However, because Lair has these different possible applications, there is greater feasibility that one or more of them will provide important benefits. Performing field tests could answer many of these questions on short order. Please let me try to clarify what I think is needed: A. The amount of Lair we are considering is very large (100-ton payloads) and would include multiple heavy-lift aircraft to deliver enough Lair for the desired result. The specific amount and frequency would depend on the size and intensity of a particular storm, or in the case of creating clouds would depend on cloud lifetime. For example, to mitigate a large storm this might mean 10 aircraft making two sorties per day or 2,000 tons of Lair for 3 days. For global albedo, maybe 3 or 4 of these operations might be spaced evenly around the equator, so that 40 aircraft would deliver 8,000 tons per day on an ongoing basis (probably an upper bound of what would be needed). B. If necessary, certain regions may require a concurrent release of water vapor and/or CCN’s (i.e. salt particles) along with Lair, to form clouds more effectively. C. For increasing cloud albedo, Lair could be released at any altitude- it’s not limited to creating ice-clouds at high altitudes. It could also help to form low clouds through condensation and might increase the droplet density (and therefore reflectiveness) of existing clouds. D. It’s important to note that the expansion ratio of Lair increases with altitude, so it expands about 870 times at sea level but 7,500 times at 50,000 ft. So IF thicker/higher clouds are beneficial, this could maximize cloud size and lifetime. Despite some opinions that contrails/cirrus may cause warming, I believe that assumption needs to be challenged with respect to much thicker and more reflective clouds at the same altitude (also with respect to 9/11 data which indicated contrails may actually provide cooling). This could be easily investigated as part of field-tests. E. It’s also hoped that Lair can leverage existing natural processes, so that it becomes a catalyst for a much larger natural effect. For example, the mechanism of deposition causes a chain-reaction when saturated air is exposed to ice particles (this is how contrails grow). When Lair cools water vapor to below -40 deg F/C, this should form large amounts of ice nuclei, and deposition should then cause a much larger cloud of ice particles to form, the size of which will be dependent on resident humidity (higher humidity equals larger effect). A "bounding" example would be to consider releasing Lair at 28,000 ft (8.5 km), where it would fall and expand into cold air, cooling a region down to 25,000 ft (7.6 km) where the temperature is normally -30 deg F (-34 deg C). So if Lair (-319 deg F/-195 deg C) would cool this region by just 10 degrees, this would create ice nuclei that should initiate deposition, to form clouds over a larger region. F. Energy calculations for increasing cloud albedo are in work by Kevin Layton. The challenge here is considering the effects of Lair for different atmospheric conditions (i.e. different energy states). However, because the effect of Lair depends on so many variables (pressure, temperature, humidity, Lair amount, Lair expansion ratio, resulting deposition, latitude etc.) it might require a computer analysis to better-determine where it will and will not work. Ultimately, I believe that field testing will be needed on Lair to determine where it’s most effective. G. In addition to cloud albedo, Lair might be used to help limit the severity of future storms. Since severe storms are commonly energized by the upward flow of water vapor, mixing large amounts of Lair into these regions should enable the cold air from Lair cause enough cooling and downward pressure to REDUCE this upward flow by some amount (this would require field tests and multiple payloads). IF it works, this could be used to help limit the size and height of storm systems to reduce hail and flooding, to help minimize the formation of tornados, and at a larger scale to reduce the severity of hurricanes. Lastly, by replacing Lair with LN2, the same planes and tank systems could be used to help fight wildfires that would otherwise burn out of control. Hopefully this helps to answer some questions related to potential feasibility. Would it help if I created a Wikipedia page that goes into these details? Or would a White Paper be more appropriate? 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