Some months ago I submitted a patent pending concept for brightening clouds by releasing large amounts of liquefied air or liquid nitrogen (June 12th entry "Proposed Method to Offset Global Warming"). One aspect of the application would be to increase the number of droplets in clouds to boost their reflectivity.
I believe it is imperative that this concept be considered along with those which are being evaluated for the "approved" list. This concept could be relatively easy to validate, and relatively straightforward to execute unlike many other options being considered. The concept also has several additional applications of great significance, including potentially fighting large wildfires and reducing the severity of destructive weather. It therefore might be used to not only reduce global warming but also reduce some of the natural disasters that may arise due to global warming (including preventing tornados and reducing hurricane strength). The potential multi-use capability of this concept is one unique advantage it has over most other concepts being considered. In terms of feasibility, the Chinese have inadvertently created significant proof of this in trying to prevent rain during the Olympics. Here is a quote from one of the news articles: "Finally, any rain-heavy clouds that near the Bird's Nest will be seeded with chemicals to shrink droplets so that rain won't fall until those clouds have passed over. Zhang Qian, head of Beijing's Weather Modification Office, explains, "We use a coolant made from liquid nitrogen to increase teh number of droplets while decreasing their average size. As a result, the smaller droplets are less likely to fall, and precipitation can be reduced." The Chinese have therefore given a significant level of proof that cooling of clouds can "increase the number of droplets while decreasing their average size". This is exactly the effect that I believe would be desired to brighten clouds. The Chinese are using this to prevent precipitation on a limited scale. I believe this provides proof that large scale cooling using cryogenic liquids could also be used to increase cloud albedo by increasing droplet density. My concept would be scaled much larger than the Chinese by utilizing heavy lift aircraft to release large amounts of liquefied air or liquid nitrogen precisely where it could have maximum effect (i.e. close to the equator and on targeted cloud types), and on a rotating basis to maintain the desired albedo increase. This process may also serve to enlarge existing clouds or create new clouds under the right conditions. One valuable aspect of the concept is that the working fluid would be naturally absorbed by the atmosphere. The process could therefore be safely scaled as large as necessary to obtain the desired result. So most importantly, it should have no adverse effect to the atmosphere, unlike most concepts being considered. This removes an enormous potential roadblock for other concepts, giving this concept a much greater chance of obtaining public support in addition to widespread government approval, which otherwise will be extremely difficult as this is of course an international issue. Another feature of this approach is enabling very large scaling due to the enormous expansion ratio of liquefied air and liquid nitrogen, enabling it to cool very large atmospheric volumes with minimal effort. These liquids expand over 800 times at sea level into their respective gases, and more importantly expand much more than this at higher altitudes. For example, at 40,000 feet these liquids expand over 4,000 times into gaseous air or nitrogen, so that one payload from a 10 foot diameter by 40 foot long tank could cool an atmospheric volume of 6 miles in diameter by 30 miles long. If for example 10 or 20 aircraft were outfitted with cryogenic tanks, one can imagine an almost constant delivery of cryogenic payloads that would expand thousands of times each, to enable the type of scaling that would be required to increase global cloud albedo by 5% (the amount considered in previous scientific reports to offset a doubling of pre-industrial CO2). Testing would need to determine how droplet density will dissipate over time (reducing albedo with time). This effect is actually desired, to ensure that albedo levels stay safely in control. However, this will also determine how often re-treatment is required, and how large the fleet of aircraft will need to be in order to maintain desired overall albedo. I don't believe that this answer can be obtained without running real-world tests at a reasonable scale. In other words, I don't believe this concept can be considered for elimination until real-world tests can be run. My hope is that brightened clouds will remain brighter long enough to allow a global increase of 5% to be obtained with a reasonable amount of aircraft and mission frequency. And in this fashion, allow mankind to reduce global CO2 within a reasonable timeframe. To minimize CO2 created in executing this concept, power for creating liquefied air or liquid nitrogen could be provided by windfarms wherever possible. Potentially, an ideal aircraft for this concept would be the KC-135 air-fueling tanker. Since these are in the process of being replaced with a new fleet of tankers, some of the 500-large fleet of KC-135's could be modified for cloud-brightening missions. These modifications should be limited mainly to tanks and tank controls, by making the existing tanks safe for cryogenic storage or by replacing them with specially designed cryogenic storage tanks. By using existing aircraft, the infrastructure cost for this concept can be greatly reduced. In terms of other applications for this concept, I will provide two examples. In the case of fighting wildfires, liquid nitrogen could be release via aircraft onto and upwind of firelines, where upon reaching the ground the liquid will expand over 800 times into gaseous nitrogen. This very cold vapor would be blown over the firelines, blanketing fire with enough gaseous nitrogen to dispel oxygen levels below the combustible limit (reducing oxygen from 21% down below 15%). This would literally snuff out large burning areas, and cooling them in the process to help prevent re-ignition. In the example of hurricanes, large numbers of liquefied air payloads could be safely delivered up and over the cloud system and released into the hurricane eye. These payloads would fall by gravity onto the eye's surface, expanding in the process and spreading a huge layer of cool air over the water. As the hurricane proceeds, the cool air is pulled up and into the heat of the storm. This cools the vertical flow of moisture, slowing atmospheric expansion that is driving the storm and therefore reducing the storm's intensity. In addition, the large amount of expansion caused by many payloads in the eye volume could serve to increase eye pressure by some significant amount. This could also serve to weaken the storm. Hopefully one can see that this concept has enough potential to warrant further investigation. I truly believe that there are at least one or more applications of the concept that are potentially very significant. If offsetting global warming with the concept simply did not work, I am confident that development would still be warranted for fighting wildfires or moderation adverse weather events such as hurricanes or tornadoes. Please contact me if you have any comments or questions. My email address is m2des...@cablespeed.com or feel free to contact me by phone. I am interested in partnering with the "right" individuals or corporations in development of these applications, which as mentioned are currently patent pending in nature. Mark Massmann President M2 Design LLC 425-208-9798 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To post to this group, send email to geoengineering@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to geoengineering+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
