http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-ice11.html
Scientists scan sky for mysterious 'big ice meteors' BY MICHAEL WOODS Scripps Howard News Service December 11, 2003 BARCELONA, Spain -- A scientific team is monitoring ice events in the United States this winter following research on a baffling phenomenon first detected in Spain. The Spanish-American team is investigating incidents involving ''megacryometeors,'' great balls of ice that fall out of the clear blue sky, possibly because of global warming. ''I'm not worried that a block of ice may fall on your head,'' said Jesus Martinez-Frias of the Center for Astrobiology, in Madrid. ''I'm worried that great blocks of ice are forming where they shouldn't exist.'' The term megacryometeors is coined from ''mega,'' which means ''big,'' ''cryo'' for ''ice'' and ''meteor.'' Most weigh 25 to 35 pounds, but one whopper found in Brazil tipped the scales at 440 pounds. Incidents like those may be just the beginning, according to David Travis, who researches atmospheric conditions that foster megacryometeor formation. He chairs the department of geography and geology at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. ''If megacryometeor formation is linked to global warming, as we suspect, then it is fair to assume that these events may increase in the future,'' Travis said. Martinez-Frias pioneered research on megacryometeors in January 2000, after ice chunks weighing up to 6.6 pounds fell from cloudless skies onto Spain for 10 days. A government scientific research agency thought the ice might be from a comet, and asked him to investigate. The notion of plummeting ice balls defies more than a century of research on hail formation. ''Scientists are naturally reluctant to say something never can happen,'' said Charles Knight, a hail expert at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. ''But oh, dear. I would be tempted to say 'never' on this.'' Knight said he has reviewed papers published on megacryometeors, and thinks the explanation, which involves atmospheric conditions possibly linked to global warming, is wrong. ______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
