Excellent post. Sadly, the effect likely has the opposite sign to that required, as high, cold cirrus clouds tend to cause warming. If the effect could be made short lived, then activating it during daytime sun only may be viable, which may give a reverse effect.
I'd be interested to see if the energy input calculations scale to something sensible. One potential use of this technology would be to create temporary warming to counteract excessive cooling from SRM. (Much like an amphetamine addict taking tranquilisers to sleep.) This could give a degree of spatial and temporal control not otherwise possible in a stratospheric SRM regime. Regardless of the science, I love the dystopian Sci-fi aesthetic of laser induced clouds saving us from an uninhabitably polluted world. :-) A On Jun 6, 2013 12:35 AM, "Dr D" <[email protected]> wrote: > Is this applicable to marine cloud brightening? > > > http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/05/30/1222190110 > > Abstract > > Potential impacts of lightning-induced plasma on cloud ice formation and > precipitation have been a subject of debate for decades. Here, we report on > the interaction of laser-generated plasma channels with water and ice > clouds observed in a large cloud simulation chamber. Under the conditions > of a typical storm cloud, in which ice and supercooled water coexist, no > direct influence of the plasma channels on ice formation or precipitation > processes could be detected. Under conditions typical for thin cirrus ice > clouds, however, the plasma channels induced a surprisingly strong effect > of ice multiplication. Within a few minutes, the laser action led to a > strong enhancement of the total ice particle number density in the chamber > by up to a factor of 100, even though only a 10-9 fraction of the chamber > volume was exposed to the plasma channels. The newly formed ice particles > quickly reduced the water vapor pressure to ice saturation, thereby > increasing the cloud optical thickness by up to three orders of magnitude. > A model relying on the complete vaporization of ice particles in the laser > filament and the condensation of the resulting water vapor on plasma ions > reproduces our experimental findings. This surprising effect might open new > perspectives for remote sensing of water vapor and ice in the upper > troposphere. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "geoengineering" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
