Atmospheric Acid Reflux
Timothy Birdnow
Remember acid rain? That was a prequal to the late 20th century blockbuster "Global Warming" and the upcoming attraction "Ocean Acidification - the sequal". Back in the polyster '70's we were told that human industrial emissions were causing acid to rain from the skies. Well...
http://media.uow.edu.au/news/UOW117161.html
"Satellites showing that nature is responsible for 90% of the earth’s atmospheric acidity shocked researchers from the Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy, whose findings have just been published in the journal Nature Geoscience.
Stunned, the scientists approached a team from the University of Wollongong’s Centre of Atmospheric Chemistry (CAC) to confirm what satellite readings were telling them."
[...]
"“The modelling shows, particularly, that natural forest emissions have been highly underestimated. Our forest areas are producing more formic acid than we ever thought,” she said.
Dr Murphy said the unexpected results might well mean forests are responsible for most of the acidity in rainwater in areas other than highly-polluted inner-cities."
End excerpt.
Sooooo...
Ronald Reagan was right when he blamed trees for air pollution. And it also suggests that we have a healthier biosphere than previous; mankind is forever planting trees, and we now have lots of them in places like the Great Plains where previously nothing but grass and scrub grew. Ever see a tree grow in the desert? Yet Las Vegas has them.
Al Gore wrote one sorry poem http://mynorthwest.com/index.php?nid=76&sid=255563 in which he speaks of an acid sea:
Vapors rise aso
Fever settles on an acid sea
Neptune's bones dissolve
Now, I don't know about an acid SEA (actually, yes I do; the sea is alkaline, not acidic, and considerably so; ph is between 7.5 and 8.4, solidly alkaline - if Neptunes bones dissolve it's through lack of vitamin D) but we know who to blame for an acid sky. Curse those evil trees!
It makes one wonder; if Man is responsible for a scant 10% of atmospheric acidification, how much is he responsible for rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels? The main station measuring atmospheric CO2 is at Mauna Loa, an ACTIVE VOLCANO. And the rise in CO2 levels is universal, and not higher in industrial areas when measured. It also seems to be consistent, meaning it has risen steadily, and not in the jumpy start and stop fashion one would expect in an industrializing world.
Interestingly enough, the paleontological record suggests that carbon dioxide levels rise in the Earth's atmosphere AFTER a warming period; sometimes as long after as 800 years. Strangely enough, the Little Ice Age was just about 800 years ago...
Remember acid rain? That was a prequal to the late 20th century blockbuster "Global Warming" and the upcoming attraction "Ocean Acidification - the sequal". Back in the polyster '70's we were told that human industrial emissions were causing acid to rain from the skies. Well...
http://media.uow.edu.au/news/UOW117161.html
"Satellites showing that nature is responsible for 90% of the earth’s atmospheric acidity shocked researchers from the Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy, whose findings have just been published in the journal Nature Geoscience.
Stunned, the scientists approached a team from the University of Wollongong’s Centre of Atmospheric Chemistry (CAC) to confirm what satellite readings were telling them."
[...]
"“The modelling shows, particularly, that natural forest emissions have been highly underestimated. Our forest areas are producing more formic acid than we ever thought,” she said.
Dr Murphy said the unexpected results might well mean forests are responsible for most of the acidity in rainwater in areas other than highly-polluted inner-cities."
End excerpt.
Sooooo...
Ronald Reagan was right when he blamed trees for air pollution. And it also suggests that we have a healthier biosphere than previous; mankind is forever planting trees, and we now have lots of them in places like the Great Plains where previously nothing but grass and scrub grew. Ever see a tree grow in the desert? Yet Las Vegas has them.
Al Gore wrote one sorry poem http://mynorthwest.com/index.php?nid=76&sid=255563 in which he speaks of an acid sea:
Vapors rise aso
Fever settles on an acid sea
Neptune's bones dissolve
Now, I don't know about an acid SEA (actually, yes I do; the sea is alkaline, not acidic, and considerably so; ph is between 7.5 and 8.4, solidly alkaline - if Neptunes bones dissolve it's through lack of vitamin D) but we know who to blame for an acid sky. Curse those evil trees!
It makes one wonder; if Man is responsible for a scant 10% of atmospheric acidification, how much is he responsible for rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels? The main station measuring atmospheric CO2 is at Mauna Loa, an ACTIVE VOLCANO. And the rise in CO2 levels is universal, and not higher in industrial areas when measured. It also seems to be consistent, meaning it has risen steadily, and not in the jumpy start and stop fashion one would expect in an industrializing world.
Interestingly enough, the paleontological record suggests that carbon dioxide levels rise in the Earth's atmosphere AFTER a warming period; sometimes as long after as 800 years. Strangely enough, the Little Ice Age was just about 800 years ago...
posted by Timothy Birdnow | 7:19 AM
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