Climate Intervention

Climate Intervention
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 270
Release: 2015-06-23
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309314852

The growing problem of changing environmental conditions caused by climate destabilization is well recognized as one of the defining issues of our time. The root problem is greenhouse gas emissions, and the fundamental solution is curbing those emissions. Climate geoengineering has often been considered to be a "last-ditch" response to climate change, to be used only if climate change damage should produce extreme hardship. Although the likelihood of eventually needing to resort to these efforts grows with every year of inaction on emissions control, there is a lack of information on these ways of potentially intervening in the climate system. As one of a two-book report, this volume of Climate Intervention discusses albedo modification - changing the fraction of incoming solar radiation that reaches the surface. This approach would deliberately modify the energy budget of Earth to produce a cooling designed to compensate for some of the effects of warming associated with greenhouse gas increases. The prospect of large-scale albedo modification raises political and governance issues at national and global levels, as well as ethical concerns. Climate Intervention: Reflecting Sunlight to Cool Earth discusses some of the social, political, and legal issues surrounding these proposed techniques. It is far easier to modify Earth's albedo than to determine whether it should be done or what the consequences might be of such an action. One serious concern is that such an action could be unilaterally undertaken by a small nation or smaller entity for its own benefit without international sanction and regardless of international consequences. Transparency in discussing this subject is critical. In the spirit of that transparency, Climate Intervention: Reflecting Sunlight to Cool Earth was based on peer-reviewed literature and the judgments of the authoring committee; no new research was done as part of this study and all data and information used are from entirely open sources. By helping to bring light to this topic area, this book will help leaders to be far more knowledgeable about the consequences of albedo modification approaches before they face a decision whether or not to use them.

Critical Issues in Weather Modification Research

Critical Issues in Weather Modification Research
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 144
Release: 2004-01-16
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309090539

The weather on planet Earth is a vital and sometimes fatal force in human affairs. Efforts to control or reduce the harmful impacts of weather go back far in time. In this, the latest National Academies' assessment of weather modification, the committee was asked to assess the ability of current and proposed weather modification capabilities to provide beneficial impacts on water resource management and weather hazard mitigation. It examines new technologies, reviews advances in numerical modeling on the cloud and mesoscale, and considers how improvements in computer capabilities might be applied to weather modification. Critical Issues in Weather Modification Research examines the status of the science underlying weather modification in the United States. It calls for a coordinated national research program to answer fundamental questions about basic atmospheric processes and to address other issues that are impeding progress in weather modification.

Managing Water Resources in the West Under Conditions of Climate Uncertainty

Managing Water Resources in the West Under Conditions of Climate Uncertainty
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 359
Release: 1991-02-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309046777

The question of whether the earth's climate is changing in some significant human-induced way remains a matter of much debate. But the fact that climate is variable over time is well known. These two elements of climatic uncertainty affect water resources planning and management in the American West. Managing Water Resources in the West Under Conditions of Climate Uncertainty examines the scientific basis for predictions of climate change, the implications of climate uncertainty for water resources management, and the management options available for responding to climate variability and potential climate change.

Fixing the Sky

Fixing the Sky
Author: James Rodger Fleming
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 346
Release: 2010-08-13
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0231144121

Weaving together stories from elite science, cutting-edge technology, and popular culture, Fleming examines issues of health and navigation in the 1830s, drought in the 1890s, aircraft safety in the 1930s, and world conflict since the 1940s.

Guidelines for Cloud Seeding to Augment Precipitation

Guidelines for Cloud Seeding to Augment Precipitation
Author: Conrad G. Keyes
Publisher: Amer Society of Civil Engineers
Total Pages: 181
Release: 2006
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 9780784408193

It is intended to provide water resources managers and others with the information and references needed for decision making regarding the use of cloud seeding to augment available water supplies."--BOOK JACKET.

Earth Science and Applications from Space

Earth Science and Applications from Space
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 460
Release: 2007-10-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9780309103879

Natural and human-induced changes in Earth's interior, land surface, biosphere, atmosphere, and oceans affect all aspects of life. Understanding these changes requires a range of observations acquired from land-, sea-, air-, and space-based platforms. To assist NASA, NOAA, and USGS in developing these tools, the NRC was asked to carry out a "decadal strategy" survey of Earth science and applications from space that would develop the key scientific questions on which to focus Earth and environmental observations in the period 2005-2015 and beyond, and present a prioritized list of space programs, missions, and supporting activities to address these questions. This report presents a vision for the Earth science program; an analysis of the existing Earth Observing System and recommendations to help restore its capabilities; an assessment of and recommendations for new observations and missions for the next decade; an examination of and recommendations for effective application of those observations; and an analysis of how best to sustain that observation and applications system.

Mixed-Phase Clouds

Mixed-Phase Clouds
Author: Constantin Andronache
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 302
Release: 2017-09-28
Genre: Science
ISBN: 012810550X

Mixed-Phase Clouds: Observations and Modeling presents advanced research topics on mixed-phase clouds. As the societal impacts of extreme weather and its forecasting grow, there is a continuous need to refine atmospheric observations, techniques and numerical models. Understanding the role of clouds in the atmosphere is increasingly vital for current applications, such as prediction and prevention of aircraft icing, weather modification, and the assessment of the effects of cloud phase partition in climate models. This book provides the essential information needed to address these problems with a focus on current observations, simulations and applications. - Provides in-depth knowledge and simulation of mixed-phase clouds over many regions of Earth, explaining their role in weather and climate - Features current research examples and case studies, including those on advanced research methods from authors with experience in both academia and the industry - Discusses the latest advances in this subject area, providing the reader with access to best practices for remote sensing and numerical modeling

Weather Warfare

Weather Warfare
Author: Jerry E. Smith
Publisher: SCB Distributors
Total Pages: 412
Release: 2011-08-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 1935487671

In April 1997, United States Secretary of Defense William Cohen declared that there are terrorists at work who “... are engaging even in an eco-type of terrorism whereby they can alter the climate, set off earthquakes, volcanoes remotely through the use of electromagnetic waves...“ Weather modification in the form of cloud seeding to increase snow packs in the Sierras or suppress hail over Kansas is now an everyday affair. Hundreds of environmental and weather modifying technologies have been patented in the United States alone-and hundreds more are being developed in civilian, academic, military and quasi-military laboratories around the world at this moment! This book lays bare the grim facts of who is doing it and why. The earth and the sky have themselves been turned into weapons! Underground nuclear tests in Nevada have set off earthquakes. A Russian company has been offering to sell typhoons on demand since the 1990s. Scientists have been searching for ways to move hurricanes for over 50 years-the same timeframe that took us from the Wright Brothers to Neil Armstrong. In this book, Jerry E. Smith picks up where his 1998 book about the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) left off. He reports on recent developments at HAARP, including its possible connection to the crash of the Space Shuttle Columbia and what role, if any, it played in certain “natural” disasters, like Hurricane Katrina. Tackling the chemtrail controversy, Smith examines claims that particles called aerosols are being deliberately injected into the atmosphere. Edward Teller, father of the hydrogen bomb, proposed putting up a “sun screen” of aerosols to save the earth from global warming-is someone actually doing it? Numerous ongoing military programs do inject aerosols at high altitude for communications and surveillance operations. Could these include mind control or population control applications? Smith puts these technologies into context by examining the geopolitical conflicts that are driving their development from Globalization to the rise of Neo-Con Neo-Fascism.