More money than brains department:
Bill Gates want to
"whiten" the clouds in an effort to reflect more sunshine... To reduce global warming.
Some scientists believe increasing the whiteness, or albedo, of clouds could increase their ability to reflect more sunlight back into space and reduce global warming.
Some scientists?
Name them. Show us their credentials. Let's see their educational background. Let's see some evidence that clouds can actually be made whiter before we leap over the cliff.
Opponents of this hilarious stunt say this Bill Gates-backed geo-engineering project to whiten clouds and reduce global warming is "risky".
No kidding. One must assume that any attempt to manage the weather will contain a host of unintended consequences, considering our vast lack or understanding as to how the weather really works.
One thing we do know:
Earth already has it's own built-in temperature controlling mechanism.How it works:
Increased solar radiation, or sunshine generated heat on the ocean surface, raises the water temperature and generates more cloud cover. Check out the next hurricane for conformation.
-1) More ocean surface heat = more clouds.
-2) More clouds = more reflected sunlight.
-3) More reflected sunlight = less energy reaches the surface.
Temperature goes down.-4) Less energy reaching the surface = fewer clouds.
-5) Lower temperature, fewer clouds = more sunshine.
Temperature goes back up.-6) Cycle repeats.
With roughly 80% of earth covered with water, this cycle has successfully regulated the earth's temperature to within a few degrees for millions and millions of years. None of this "runaway greenhouse effect" nonsense.
If the surface temperature of the oceans increase due to manmade causes (Sunshine being reflected back downwards due to increased C02), the increased solar radiation on the surface will increase the cloud cover... With identical results as far as temperature is concerned. There will be more clouds of course, generating more rain worldwide.
But this water - in the form of rain - comes from the ocean in the first place, so don't be looking for raising sea levels because of it. Look for more food crops and greenbelts.
Actual, provable climate records show that the earth has gone thru numerous up/down temperature cycles, not caused by manmade C02, but by combinations of variations in the suns energy output, interacting with variations in earth's orbit and inclination.
At worst, we will see more vigorous weather patterns, reminding us all we shouldn't build in flood plains, on river banks or sandy beaches.
But, being humans, we're stubborn and generally slow on the uptake, so look for more flooding and whining about how unfair it all is.
Clouds are always white on top, already reflecting the maximum solar radiation they are capable of. Somebody should tell Bill Gates that clouds are only dark on their bottoms.
His attempt to make clouds whiter will affect nothing but his bank balance.
Oh yes, the Arctic ice...
Increased temperature will melt more of the ice. Not all of it, just some of it. Remember there is no Arctic landmass, all the ice up there is floating on the water, and 90% of that is underwater.
The volume of space taken up by the underwater part of the ice is greater then the volume of water it displaces. You may have been taught in grade school that when ice freezes, it expands. Check out the next engine block that cracked open when it's cooling water froze and had no antifreeze in it.
Should the Arctic ice all melt, the volume its displaces underwater will decrease, so the ocean levels will actually go down.
The huge Ross ice shelf in Antarctica? It's afloat also. Should it break loose and melt, the ocean level will again go down.
So we have a lot of sea level reduction effects going on. Will we have seaports around the world becoming high and dry?
No, because the ice mass on the Antarctic continent will partially melt, adding more water to the ocean, counterbalancing the sea level drop created by the Arctic.
Kinda neat how it all works out.
