Do planes have any effect on climate?
- Thread starter PiKe
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Nope not a sausage in fact they are the least polluting of all forms of motorised transport if you take people per mile ratios into account.
Soldato
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Theres more evidence to proove it does exist than it doesn't.
And either way, would you rather have clean air or smog?
Soldato
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Rockets and Space Shuttle pollution would be so inconsequential as to not matter although I'm sure any big war would make a sizeable contribution by merit of the fact that there's so much to be transported and so much getting blown up.
I whole page devoted to ifs and buts and maybes with the usual footnotes.
Do you mean the creative commons footnote or references?
References are pretty standard in scientific circles...
Yes im pretty sure planes have an effect on weather in both the short and long term, check out these images and the dates, notice the hazy cloud formations around contrails and notice how clear the sky is when the planes aren't around creating them.
2010/04/02
2010/04/04
2010/04/17
2010/04/18
You can search for more at http://miravi.eo.esa.int/en/
2010/04/02
2010/04/04
2010/04/17
2010/04/18
You can search for more at http://miravi.eo.esa.int/en/
Most be doing something, air travel has only really been going for 70-80 years and in this day and age its really booming.
Time will only tell
Also last few nights I have be able to see the stars at 9pm and they have been brighter than ever before, I was stood at the window in amazement never seen them so bright/clearly.
Time will only tell
Also last few nights I have be able to see the stars at 9pm and they have been brighter than ever before, I was stood at the window in amazement never seen them so bright/clearly.
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I tell you what, since you DON'T know what you're talking about, why don't you go away.As for those sheep who will believe anything they're told...
The effect the o/p asked about is global dimming, as Nix has posted. Observed temperature fluctuations day to night increased so it was warmer in the day and colder in the night but net it was about a degree C warmer in the day.
It's caused by aerosols (fine soot, vapour and sulphur compounds) in the higher parts of the atmosphere reflecting sunlight back out, so it doesn't get a chance to warm the earth.
Whether or not you believe in global warming or not this is an OBSERVED phenomenon, it has been measured and is repeatable by means of experiment. Therefore it does exist.
I too am interested in whether the sudden change in weather is related. be good to see what gets published in the aftermath.
For the record, 1.3 million tonnes of CO2 saved pales into significance when you realise that man made CO2 emissions total 28 billion tonnes a year. It's not going to make much of a dent on all your environmental conspiracy taxes.
every time the lunch the shuttle the huge volume of water released by it's thrusters (they use hydrogen and oxygen for fuel so are carbon neutral \o/) causes it to form a cloud and then rain
Of course planes have an affect on the planet, be that weather, or climate or otherwise. Anyone who says no hasn't quite thought it through.
Do Aeroplanes run on dreams? Are they piloted by magic? Is fuel processed/refined and transported by fairies?
Seriously, people. SEAREOOSLY.
Do Aeroplanes run on dreams? Are they piloted by magic? Is fuel processed/refined and transported by fairies?
Seriously, people. SEAREOOSLY.
One of the largest factors in the climate is known as the planetary albedo. It's a measure of how much incident radiation (sunlight) reaches the Earth, compared to the amount reflected off of the clouds, land and ice caps (in particular). In this case, the lack of vapour trails after 9/11 resulted in a measurable increase in surface temperature, as less sunlight was being reflected.
In fact, the phasing out aerosols acts to reverse global dimming (thanks Johnny), increasing the effects of global warming.
The Earth is an extremely complex system. Small changes in one thing can lead to much larger changes elsewhere. For example, a sea level temperature change of only a couple of degrees (happening already) started releasing loads of methane from rocks. Nobody expected this, and now that methane is contributing to trapping more heat, and raising temps more.
Or receding sea ice. As the ice melts, it reflects less sunlight, so the sea warms up more, so more ice melts etc.
Potentially disasterous positive feedbacks are what scare me most.
Planes are particularly bad as they release gases etc. at high altitude, where they have a greater effect on trapping heat.
Global warming IS happening (fact). Whether global warming is entirely man-made or just mostly is the real question.
For the sarcastic types - no you're not going to die of a tsunami because of global warming. But you might be flooded out. The great barrier reef will die. A good proportion of the people and animals of the Earth will be displaced due to rising sea. Large areas of land will become inhospitably hot/cold. And all aspects of the food chain will be moved around (eg. an insect species hatching a few weeks earlier can be disasterous for a plant, which kills off a larger animal etc. etc.)
In fact, the phasing out aerosols acts to reverse global dimming (thanks Johnny), increasing the effects of global warming.
The Earth is an extremely complex system. Small changes in one thing can lead to much larger changes elsewhere. For example, a sea level temperature change of only a couple of degrees (happening already) started releasing loads of methane from rocks. Nobody expected this, and now that methane is contributing to trapping more heat, and raising temps more.
Or receding sea ice. As the ice melts, it reflects less sunlight, so the sea warms up more, so more ice melts etc.
Potentially disasterous positive feedbacks are what scare me most.
Planes are particularly bad as they release gases etc. at high altitude, where they have a greater effect on trapping heat.
Global warming IS happening (fact). Whether global warming is entirely man-made or just mostly is the real question.
For the sarcastic types - no you're not going to die of a tsunami because of global warming. But you might be flooded out. The great barrier reef will die. A good proportion of the people and animals of the Earth will be displaced due to rising sea. Large areas of land will become inhospitably hot/cold. And all aspects of the food chain will be moved around (eg. an insect species hatching a few weeks earlier can be disasterous for a plant, which kills off a larger animal etc. etc.)
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So how is that proof it doesn't exist? That's just a by-product of the theory.
Debate much?
It's not a theory which ONLY requires proof that it exists, for someone to say with certainty that it doesn't requires a bit more than grumbling at taxes.
every time the lunch the shuttle the huge volume of water released by it's thrusters (they use hydrogen and oxygen for fuel so are carbon neutral \o/) causes it to form a cloud and then rain
Aaaah! Space Rain! It burnsssszzz!!!