outsidethecube

Saturday, November 25, 2006


The Gore effect

On his recent visit to New Zealand to promote his new church Al Gore told us of catastrophe of global warming,droughts, and sinking pacific islands.

Within days we had snow in the south of NZ,Icebergs,rain in Australia,snow in Australia and New islands appearing off Tonga.

Someone might be inclined to think that Gaia does not like him.

Friday, November 17, 2006


Extraterrestrials and global warming.

The Leonid meteor display occurs between 15 and 21 November each year, with peak activity on the night of the 17/18 November. The observed meteors are produced by the collision with the Earth's atmosphere of small dust particles ejected from the parent comet, Tempel-Tuttle. This object moves around the Sun in an elliptical orbit with a period of revolution approximately 33 years. The dynamical features of the orbit are similar to those of Halley's comet, and so comet Tempel-Tuttle is classified as a Halley-type short-period comet. Owing to the extreme inclination of the cometary orbit (162 degrees), the dust grains collide almost head-on with the Earth, at a relative velocity of about 71 kilometres per second. At such a speed, a centimetre-size particle has the same kinetic energy as a speeding truck on a motorway.

The faintest meteor that becomes visible to the average viewer on Earth is typically about 0.6 millimeters across (less than one-tenth of an inch or about the size of a sand grain). While such a speck is here and gone in a flash, the energy involved could light a 100-watt light bulb for about 2.5 seconds.

A slightly larger meteor, just 1 millimeter across and only moderately bright, packs the punch of a .22 caliber bullet.

Spectacularly bright fireballs, for which this annual event is known, dissipate far more energy during their plunge through the atmosphere. A typical fireball, which can briefly shine as bright as the planet Venus, is the size of a marble, about 9 millimeters in diameter. This has the energy release of 1 million joules.

A Leonid crashes into Earths upper atmosphere at more than 71 kilometers per second. A typical bullet from a rifle, moving at what seems like blinding speed, creeps along by comparison at just 1,000 meters per second.

The comet grains become visible at around 100 kilometers because they heat up as they plow through air, to the point that they glow. Most of them disintegrate high overhead.

Most of the mass will come from big fireballs, because if you put 10,000 typical small Leonids together, they would weigh just 0.1 grams. A bright fireball, however, can weigh as much as 85 grams.During the course of the peak hour over North America in the pre-dawn hours of Nov. 19, predictions of shower activity suggest that about 1 kilogram of material will rain down over an area visible by a single observer. It will create about 650 kilowatts of energy.

However, when one takes into account the entire hemisphere of Earth facing the Leonids, then we find that about 12,500 kilograms of Leonid stuff will hit our atmosphere at a screaming 71 Kilometers per second, taken in total, will produce around 4 kilotons of energy, or about 4.5 million kilowatt-hours, per minute.
The conversion of a meteors mass and momentum to heat and light is often said to be caused by friction with air molecules. This sounds logical, but its not true.
In fact, a meteor is moving so fast that it compresses the air in front of it, something like how a boat pushes water out of the way and makes a wake. The compressed air heats up by a phenomenon called ram pressure. Its the same thing that causes a hand-held air pump to get warm when you work it to fill a basketball.
The heated air, in turn, scorches the meteor. Temperatures can exceed 1,650 Celsius.

A meteor shower is seen every year, but every 33 years or so, owing to the much higher spatial density of dust grains close to the comet, the intensity of the display is greatly enhanced. In fact, strong meteor showers, known as `meteor storms', have been seen many times during the past thousand years, notable events being those of 1799, 1833, 1866 and 1966.

The 1998 event was of the second kind, and the intensity and duration of this exceptional event indicated that the Earth must have passed through an extremely dense, narrow stream of large dust grains, having sizes ranging up to several centimetres. The timing of the event, more than 16 hours ahead of schedule, suggested that these dust particles occupied an orbit somewhat different from that making up the main stream of small grains. The orbital difference showed that the meteoroids must have left the cometary nucleus many hundreds of years ago;

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Galactic Cosmic Rays

There is a lot of discussion on the cause and effects of Cosmic rays and the inverse relationships of the sun-earth climate coupling. Proponents of AGW are of course critical as it is like Ockhams razor being wielded by Sweeny Todd through some of their virtual hypothesis .Unfortunately for them it is not one or two but the consolidated works of 5 Nobel laureates that form the heuristic theory and reality of the coupling.

In the beginning of the cosmic era is established the important role of the different particle types in the extraterrestrial and interplanetary space: galactic cosmic rays (GCR), solar cosmic rays (SCR), radiation belt and aurora particles, solar wind (SW), etc. Because of that the energetic and the variations of these particles appear as essential aspect of solar-terrestrial physics. All energy fluxes in the interplanetary space with extra solar origin are negligible small in comparison with the energy fluxes from the Sun, at least near the Earth’s orbit. But namely GCR possess maximal penetration capability to 2 kilometres into the ocean and 900 metres into the lithosphere.

Cosmic rays form the lower parts of the terrestrial and planetary ionospheres. They create in the Earth environment independent cosmic ray layer, so called C layer in the ionosphere D region, which is situated at heights 50 - 80 km (Velinov, 1966, 1968). Therefore they influence on the propagation on radiowaves, particularly in the range of medium, long and very long waves. The cosmic rays maintain the ionization not only in the ionosphere but also in the atmosphere, the hydrosphere and the lithosphere of the Earth.

CR determine the ionization rate and conductivities in the atmosphere and the ionosphere and therefore the atmospheric electric fields. The last influence the thunderstorms, Earth’s global charge and global electric circuit between the ionosphere and the ground. It is already established (Ermakov, 1992; Ermakov and Stozhkov, 2003), that the main cause of thunderstorm discharges are external atmospheric showers (EAS) of high energy primary CR particles with energy more than 1014 eV. CR produce also nuclear reactions with ground, water and air atoms. On this way cosmogenic nuclides in space, in bodies, and in atmospheres are created. Such cosmogenic isotopes are 10Be, 7Be, 3He and 3H (Dorman, 2004). All this shows the great importance of cosmic rays for the processes of solar-terrestrial relationships, solar-terrestrial physics and solar-planetary physics in the whole heliosphere.

The Sun sends to the Earth different types of radiations - photons (visible optical OPT, infrared IR, X-rays, gamma rays, etc.) and particles (the permanent SW, the sporadic SCR, etc.). The Sun also generates magnetic field, i.e. the interplanetary magnetic field IMF. The whole Solar system is radiated by GCR, which are generated in the supernovae stars and in the Nucleus of the Galaxy in the galactic center (GC). The solar wind and interplanetary magnetic fields modulate GCR with their cycles (11- and 22- years, 27-days, etc.). Besides in the magnetosphere, ionosphere and atmosphere exist 12- hour and diurnal variations. Consequently SW and IMF modulate all primary and secondary GCR particles.

However GCR determine the chemistry and electrical parameters in the atmosphere. They create ozonosphere and influence actively on O3 processes. GCR transmit to the ozonosphere their solar modulation. But the ozonosphere controls the meteorological solar constant and the thermal regime and dynamics (including the dynamics of the cloud system) of the lower atmosphere, i.e. the weather and climate (Velinov, 1998, 2000). This mechanism may be expanded still taking into account that the GCR create not only the atmospheric but the hydrosphere and lithosphere part of the ozonosphere also.

When a high-energy cosmic ray interacts with the Earth's atmosphere, it may produce an electron-positron pair with enormous velocities. The Cherenkov radiation from these charged particles is used to determine the source and intensity of the cosmic ray the very brief flash of Cherenkov radiation generated by the cascade of relativistic charged particles produced when a very high energy gamma ray strikes the atmosphere. This shower of charged particles, known as an Extensive Air Shower (EAS) is initiated at an altitude of 10-20km. The incoming gamma-ray photon undergoes pair production in the vicinity of the nucleus of an atmospheric molecule.

The electron-positron pair produced are of extremely high energy and immediately undergo Bremsstrahlung or 'Braking Radiation'. This radiation produced is itself extremely energetic, with many of the photons undergoing further pair production. A cascade of charged particles ensues which, due to its extreme energy, produces a flash of Cherenkov radiation lasting between 5 and 20 ns. The total area on the ground illuminated by this flash corresponds to many hundreds of square meters,


This animation of a single GCR proton disassembling at 15 km is a good example of the energy released.GCR

Saturday, November 04, 2006

Organic Farming increases Global Warming

Glomalin: Hiding Place for a Third of the World's Stored Soil Carbon is a soil "super glue" was mistaken for an unidentifiable constituent of soil organic matter. Rather, it permeates organic matter, binding it to silt, sand, and clay particles. Not only does glomalin contain 30 to 40 percent carbon, but it also forms clumps of soil granules called aggregates. These add structure to soil and keep other stored soil carbon from escaping.

There are conditions, however. Members of the cabbage and spinach families are oblivious to the fungi's courtship. Growing these crops is essentially a fallow period because glomalin production stops altogether. Frequent rotation with more friendly crops is recommended.

Organic farming has two strikes against it in maintaining soil health. To satisfy nitrogen needs, crops require substantial amounts of manure. Yet manure supplies a glut of phosphorous, which shuts down glomalin production. Another complication is the near limitless supply of weed seeds bankrolled in the soil. Plowing digs up and activates seeds, causing self-induced weed outbreaks. Without herbicides, the fallback has to be the plow.

In 1996, Dr. Sarah Wright and colleagues at the USDA's Agricultural Research Service isolated a glycoprotein called glomalin that literally "gums up" the soil rhizosphere (the interface between soil and plant roots) with carbon fixed from the atmosphere. The compound is produced by common soil fungi called mycorrhizae that frequent the roots of many crops.

When Wright removed glomalin from soil samples, the result was a lifeless mineral powder. The soil had lost its tilth - the substance that conveys texture and health. She had inadvertently discovered the fundamental factor of soil welfare, elusive for over 10,000 years. Humic acid, previously thought to be the main contributor to soil carbon, could muster only a tiny percentage of glomalin's carbon-storing capacity in the field.

Another extraordinary finding was that elevated carbon dioxide levels encouraged mychorrizae to work overtime. Working with a consortium of scientists from UC-Davis and Stanford, Wright simulated CO2 projections for the year 2100 and observed ramped up glomalin production, with thriving fungi.

Most importantly, the USDA research demonstrated glomalin's tendency to buildup in the soil. Intensively farmed fields consistently leveled off at 0.7 mg of glomalin per gram of soil, while undisturbed plots saw an increase from 1.3 to 1.7 within three years. In hindsight, the Dust Bowl of the 1930's wasn't a casualty of overfarming, but overplowing.

Conservation tillage maintains the supporting cast needed for soil stability, sparing mycorrhizae the stress of reestablishment every season. Aiming for at least 30% cover on the field, precision equipment gently seeds through crop residues, safeguarding soil against the elements and defending against drought.

Even before Wright's discovery, the National Soil and Water Conservation Society endorsed modern agriculture as the most sustainable in all history. According to the National Crop Residue Management Survey, 37% of corn and 57% of U.S. soybeans are now grown under some form of conservation tillage. Using herbicides and biotechnology, farmers can spray their fields with confidence, sparing produce, blighting weeds, and salvaging soil. Many more are following suit.

Friday, November 03, 2006

The paradox of GHG emissions

There are a number of discussions amongst the scientifically disabled that in NZ the main cause of AGHG is agriculture the punishment agenda is brought out.

Firstly let us examine the Global methane budget,the WMO announced the 16th year of NO increase in methane atmospheric concentrations.IE there has been no increase since Pinataubo in total CH4 levels.The balance of CH4 is of course modulated by 2 factors solar UV intensity,and anaerobic producers.transformers,and consumers in a word Archea.The third type of microflora.

Secondly there are arguments over nitrogen applications in agriculture.There are interconnections here with microflora both fungoids and bacterial that of course utilise N2 to remove carbon from the atmosphere.Increasing fertilisation and nodulation increases the carbon sink capacity and absorbtion of pastural grassland farming.

Overall the total outputs in NZ of NO2 are 1 one ten millionith of the natural production of N02 here.

I think Lord Lawson summarises the agenda and rational of the idiots some with dgrees who promote their market value several magnitudes above their market worth.

It is, I suspect, no accident that it is in Europe that climate change absolutism has found the most fertile soil. For it is Europe that has become the most secular society in the world, where the traditional religions have the weakest popular hold. Yet people still feel the need for the comfort and higher values that religion can provide; and it is the quasi-religion of Green alarmism and what has been termed global salvationism - of which the climate change issue is the most striking example, but by no means the only one - which has filled the vacuum, with reasoned questioning of its mantras regarded as a form of blasphemy.


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