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Workweek Causes Climate Changes
Shipud writes "An
article
in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
reports that daily temperature ranges are smaller on weekdays than on weekends. This phenomenon is strongest in the US, but also appears in China and Japan. The researchers attribute this to human activity, although the exact mechanism is unclear. The prime suspect is
aerosol / cloud interactions. Here is the more legible version from
Scientific American"
Due to the unprecedented halt of all non-military air travel over the United States during the above period, scientists were able to perform research on the effects of jet contrails. During their research, it was found that a single jet contrail could be tracked by satellite across the U.S., growing from a narrow plume of vapor to substantial cloud cover as it traveled the country. Such detailed observation was not possible before, due to the thousands of flights a day crossing the U.S. I believe the study you are referencing is linked to this one.
y maille.com
The majority of flights across the U.S. are during the daytime hours on weekdays. Sounds like a high probability of a connection here, this deserves further investigation.
M.O.
http://www.madocowain.com
http://www.pla
I was trying to look for a report I read once that pointed to higher smog during weekdays as a major factor in rain occurring mostly on weekends.
This report probably says some of the same things, though:
Ozone Linked to Warmer Weekend Temperatures in Toronto
The effect that cities have (i.e. Microclimates) on the local tempatures in relation to the area around them has been known for some time and this seems to be a logical extention of the microclimate. As such it seems logical that the exaust from cars would tend to be greater on weekdays when people are going to and from work, and would decline on the weekends.
Many of the weather stations that record the data that these people used are simple mercury or alcohol thermometers that get read by humans.
I was one of these thermometer readers in grad school. During the work week, I was up for class or to go to the office, so I always read the thermometer at the same time, like I was supposed to. On weekends, it was hard to get the motivation to get out of bed early just to read a thermometer, so a lot of times I read it later than I was supposed to and guesstimated what the temp was a few hours earlier.
I worried about the researchers using data from my weather station, but not enough to drag my butt out of bed any earlier.
When 9/11 occurred, I remember seeing an article saying that during the 4 days that worldwide flights were grounded, there was a 3-5%(I think) decrease in cloud cover. I presume this is because of con trails and exhaust conglomeration in the sky. It led to a rise in temperature during the day, and less insulation so it was colder at night. Does anyone have any links? I couldn't find anything.
I always used to fantasize that, "If I became king, I would outlaw all auto usage for one day a month at least." Maybe scientific validation won't lead me to begin my brutal takeover of the world...
-non sig-Welcome your new slashdot overlord!
If contrails get your conspiracy bones jittery, check out this piece our local weekly did on chemtrails and the people who love them.
You know what?
It probably seems intuitive to you, and that's the problem. Lots of intuitive things just aren't true, because usually your guesses are based on incomplete or simply incorrect information. That's why it's important for scientists to prove their theories instead of just accepting them blindly.
That's a very good point. For instance, it is "obvious" that plastic cutting boards are better than wood, right? Well, actually no...
Here is just one interesting comparison of cutting boards.
Sometimes you just have to set aside your assumptions and find out.
A dingo ate my sig...