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Zapping Contrails With Microwave Emitters
An anonymous reader writes "Dissipation of contrails with a powerful microwave beam aligned behind aircraft engines is being touted as a possible solution to help address air transport's effects on the climate. 'The remote heating of condensation nuclei could be achieved by applying electromagnetic radiation, such as microwaves,' says Cranfield University's Frank Noppel. 'Depending on assumptions made, calculation shows that the power required for such a device could be as little as 0.1% of the engine power.'"
My understanding was that contrails contribute to global dimming and are helping to keep temperatures down. If I read the article correctly, this would not remove any pollution, just remove the clouds and allow temperatures to be even higher. Reading it made me think that the goal has become to have no impact on climate at all - positive or negative. That doesn't seem right, so I think maybe I'm missing something.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/06/060614-contrails.html Aircraft are believed to be responsible for 2 to 3 percent of human CO2 emissions. Like other high, thin clouds, contrails reflect sunlight back into space and cool the planet. However, they also trap energy in Earth's atmosphere and boost the warming effect, the study says. (See National Geographic magazine's "Global Warning: Signs From Earth.") Stuber and other scientists believe that the effect of the contrails is significant. "On average the greenhouse warming effect dominates [the effects of contrails]," said Stuber, a meteorologist at England's University of Reading.
The stories and info posted here are artistic works of fiction and falsehood.
Only fools would take it as fact.
Reduce the atmospheric warming effect of contrails by microwaving and thereby heating the atmosphere...
Dare I say...BRILLIANT!
Actually, I wonder what effect this would have on those pesky naturally occuring clouds...
-=Bang Bang=-
a possible solution to help address air transport's effects on the climate........ so the "a possible solution" to those little white trails behind jets that usually dissipate quite quickly is to shoot a powerful microwave beam in the sky. What could possibly go wrong?
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
calculation shows that the power required for such a device could be as little as 0.1% of the engine power.
A 747 uses four RB211 engines (or the Pratt & Witney equivalent) each of which puts out 30 megawatts of power. So this microwave contrail zapper is going to be using 120 kilowatts of power? That's 60-80 kitchen microwaves running simultaneously. That's more power than many radio stations use to transmit. I can't help thinking this will cause more problems than it solves. How is it going to affect radar, TV, cell phones, etc? How is it going to affect other planes on the same flight path? How is it going to affect the moisture already in the air? What's going to happen when one of these aircraft come in for a landing and forgets to turn off their contrail zapper?
It's probably money a lot better spent trying to build cleaner burning engines in the first place.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
Jet contrails apparently serve to cool the Earth during the day, as they reflect solar radiation, while at night they serve to warm the Earth, by trapping heat. So for maximum effect, you'd want to only dissipate the contrails created during nighttime flights. This would include not just "red-eye" flights, but air cargo operations like FexEx. Measurements taken during the grounding of all commercial flights following 9/11 indicate that there was a two degree increase in the range of day/night temperatures, so elimination of just the nighttime contrails could lower temperatures by a degree or so.
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/08/07/contrails.climate/index.html
Nothing for 6-digit uids?
Remember how in Sim City an airport would dramatically increase pollution for your city? Yeeeeeah, it isn't far from the truth. Airports aren't transportation hubs; they're giant kerosene burners, which is why the air absolutely stinks for miles around. I seem to recall reading that one 747 during takeoff creates more pollution than a Toyota Prius will in its entire serviceable lifetime. Obviously you can't use microwaves at any kind of intensity during taxi, run-up, or takeoff, as the ass end of the plane is facing near or at the ground.
Also, it's pretty famous now, but someone studied the weather records around September 11th, 2001 and found there was a remarkable change in the weather across the country and in fact much of the world on the few days that followed where there was very little in the way of air traffic (and another change back to "normal" when air traffic resumed.) Ask most people and they remember it being rather nice out. I remember the weather in lower NY was absolutely spectacular for several days- beautiful blue skies like I'd never seen before in that part of NY.
Please help metamoderate.
What are you smoking?
Define "green". If you're using it in the common manner, it means one or more of the following:
Reduced carbon footprint
Reduced toxin output
Reduction of resources required to produce
Reduction of resources required for operation
And note that this is per unit of work, whether that is passenger-mile or some other measure of work.
Note that while substitution of resource requirements can go either way with cost, reduction of resources for operation will by definition reduce cost.
Maybe you feel that it's not "going green" if there is an economic incentive to take "green" actions, but I don't make that distinction. Hell, I'd consider the airlines' choice to charge for each checked bag to be a green move, since it reduces fuel usage.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai