Science News: Sulfur stalls surface temperature rise

[PeterMP]

How does this work? The acid rain problem associated with coal is local but the cooling effect of burning coal is global?

Air temperature spreads globally pretty quickly. In addition, the northern hemisphere, due to the amount of land mass, and the fact that is more easily affected drives global temperature (e.g. ice ages are driven by northern insolation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milankovitch_cycles). The southern hemisphere, having much more water, is more stable.

Some what simplistically, let's say we have something that is good at conducting heat through the whole system., but let's say for some reason part of it absorbs heat more easily than the rest (let's say half is painted black and half is painted white and like all things w/ such color differences the black parts absorbs heat better and so is more easily affected).

What happens if you block the black part from absorbing as much heat as it was? The affect is local, but since the heat can be quickly distributed through the system, the effect is also system wide. The thing blocking the black part is local. If you have robust gravity, and you throw it up, it is likely to come down on the black part. The temperature results though are system wide.

Things are more complicated than that because, for example, people do expect Antarctica to be warming faster than it appears to be (we do have issues with measuring how fast Antarctica is warming because of lack of data so how Antarctica is warming (if at all) as a total continent is an area of debate). Partly, though, this is likely because other things are also changing in the southern hemisphere (more so than the northern hemisphere), such as wind and ocean currents.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13161265
http://www.kuuvikriver.info/uploads/...ate_change.pdf

So we have multiple variables that are changing. I've said in the past, one of the issues with modeling climate change is things keep changing that aren't really related to climate. It is like trying to predict the gas milage of a car where every night somebody comes in and tinkers with the car. Knowing the history of the car, things about the gas put in the car, and the expected driving conditions give you some information, but its very difficult to deal with the other things that are changing in historically unprecedented manners that aren't directly related to the things you are trying to look at, but end up affecting it.

[mardi gras skin]

So, its to our benefit that China keeps pumping out lots of coal. They can deal with the horrific acid rain all they want but, globally, we get free air conditioning.

[PeterMP]

The converse of this is something like

"If I can overstate the problem and scare people then I can get money!!!"

How much money, for what, from where at what risk?

Do you understand how science funding works? Do you understand the concept of tenure, and how much is paid directly to the person for research as compared to their salary?

I can't pay myself more than a summer salary, which is related to my total salary, from grants total. The summer salary has to be tied to the amount of work I project I'm doing on the grant for that summer. I can't claim I'm doing 6 months of summer work on a total of 2 different grants. If I pull 3 months of summer salary off of one grant, then having another grant doesn't do me any good in terms of what I take home because I can't claim another months summer salary from it.

The vast majority of any grant, especially, grants beyond the first one go to things like equipment, supporting the institution, and paying other people and their tuition. The benefit to me is minimal, especially in the face of losing my job as once tenured something like major fraud is one of the few ways I could actually lose my job.

---------- Post added July-31st-2011 at 09:29 PM ----------

So, its to our benefit that China keeps pumping out lots of coal. They can deal with the horrific acid rain all they want but, globally, we get free air conditioning.

Short term yes. Longer term unlikely. The half life particles is less than the half life of CO2 and the CO2 will globally spread and in time will raise temperatures in areas beyond where the aerosoles are being released.

Now, if we develop some method to absorb and reuse/recycle/store CO2, then that changes.

[Mad Mike]

"If I don't understand it, it must be witchcraft"

Therefore we must quickly go on the attack and ridicule the "fancy science" talk for the blasphemy it is. Next thing you know they will be wanting us to put toilet water on our crops instead of Brawndo.

[Kosher Ham]

Eggs are good or bad this year?

Best line of the thread so far.

I could go into a long story about in-laws and eggs benefits or not.