Duuuh! We Done Good

From: Spudboy100@aol.com
Date: Fri Apr 18 2003 - 01:36:11 MDT

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    There may be a serendipitous result of human-caused air pollution. That is, a
    reduction in the harmful impact of a greenhouse effect. Jerry Pournelle once
    speculated that perhaps all the pollution was holding a new Ice Age in
    abeyance, but that is not what the following article is claiming. Still, its
    along the same track as what Pournelle mused about.

    http://www.llnl.gov/str/April03/Chuang.html

    <<During the past few years, Chuang and colleagues including Joyce Penner
    (now at the University of Michigan), Keith Grant, Jane Dignon, Peter Connell,
    Daniel Bergman, and Douglas Rotman have used Livermore’s TeraCluster2000
    multiparallel supercomputer and the resources of the National Energy Research
    Scientific Computing Center at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to model
    how anthropogenic aerosols affect global and regional climate. The researchers
    ’ simulations show in unprecedented detail how aerosols are partially
    offsetting the effect of global warming and changing the properties of
    clouds. In some industrial regions, the generation of aerosols from fossil
    fuel combustion and biomass (forest and grassland) burning may be as
    important to climate change as greenhouse gases. Also, climate changes caused
    by aerosols vary significantly by season and by region.
    The research team belongs to the Atmospheric Chemistry and Aerosols Group,
    part of the Atmospheric Science Division of Livermore’s Energy and
    Environment Directorate. The team’s advanced simulations, whose findings have
    been corroborated by field measurements at different geographical locations,
    build on Livermore’s expertise in aerosols, climate, chemistry, and
    supercomputer simulations. The research has received funding from the
    Department of Energy, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
    National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and Laboratory Directed
    Research and Development. The work also contributes to fulfilling the goals
    of the federal government’s National Aerosol Climate Interactions Program, an
    interagency effort created last year.
    Chuang explains that aerosol concentrations from natural sources, such as
    volcanoes, sea spray, and desert dust storms, are believed to have remained
    generally steady over the past century. However, like greenhouse gases,
    anthropogenic aerosols have increased markedly since 1950. Based on satellite
    data, models, and information on urban and agricultural activities,
    scientists believe anthropogenic aerosols currently contribute about half of
    the total submicrometer-size aerosols in the atmosphere. Most of the
    anthropogenic aerosols are sulfates and carbonaceous compounds produced by
    the burning of fossil fuels and biomass....>>

        
        



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