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Scientists Considered Pouring Soot Over the Arctic in the 1970s to Help Melt the Ice – In Order to Prevent An Ice Age

by qbit on Dec.18, 2009, under In the News

By George Washington (about the author)

opednews.com Permalink

For OpEdNews: George Washington – Writer

Preface: I have been an environmentalist my whole life. I have an extensive resume working in the environmental field: I campaigned for preservation of wilderness, for a reduction in urban pollution, for taking pesticide residues out of foods, etc. Indeed, I have previously campaigned against global warming.

I studied environmental science at a top university in the early 1980’s. I was taught – as Al Gore was taught in college – that temperatures are directly correlated with CO2 levels. For 2 decades (until very recently), I believed that anyone questioning any aspect of global warming was paid by big oil or big coal, or influenced by someone who was.

One of the main reasons for writing this essay is to point out that we must make sure that our “solutions” are not more dangerous than the problems themselves. For example, the Washington Post noted that the government forced a switch from one type of chemical to another because it was believed the first was enlarging the ozone hole. However, according to the Post, the chemical which the government demanded be used instead is 4,470 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

Currently, “government scientists are studying the feasibility of sending nearly microscopic particles of specially made glass into the Earth’s upper atmosphere to try to dampen the effects of ‘global warming.’” Others are currently suggesting cutting down trees and burying them. Other ways to geoengineer the planet are being proposed.

And
Noam Chomsky has said that he would submit to fascism if it would help combat global warming:

Suppose it was discovered tomorrow that the greenhouse effects has been way understimated, and that the catastrophic effects are actually going to set in 10 years from now, and not 100 years from now or something.

Well, given the state of the popular movements we have today, we’d probably have a fascist takeover-with everybody agreeing to it, because that would be the only method for survival that anyone could think of. I’d even agree to it, because there’s just no other alternatives right now.” (page 388).

Are those ideas any better than pouring soot on the North Pole?

Our primary responsibility must be to ensure that we are not doing more harm than good.

On April 28, 1975, Newsweek wrote an article stating:

Climatologists are pessimistic that political leaders will take any positive action to compensate for the climatic change, or even to allay its effects. They concede that some of the more spectacular solutions proposed, such as melting the Arctic ice cap by covering it with black soot or diverting arctic rivers, might create problems far greater than those they solve. But the scientists see few signs that government leaders anywhere are even prepared to take the simple measures of stockpiling food or of introducing the variables of climatic uncertainty into economic projections of future food supplies. The longer the planners delay, the more difficult will they find it to cope with climatic change once the results become grim reality.

Here is a reprint of the article in the Washington Times, and here is a copy of the 1975 Newsweek article.

Why were scientists considering melting the arctic ice cap?

Because they were worried about a new ice age.

Newsweek discussed the 1975 article in 2006:

In April, 1975 … NEWSWEEK published a small back-page article about a very different kind of disaster. Citing “ominous signs that the earth’s weather patterns have begun to change dramatically,” the magazine warned of an impending “drastic decline in food production.” Political disruptions stemming from food shortages could affect “just about every nation on earth.” Scientists urged governments to consider emergency action to head off the terrible threat of . . . well, if you had been following the climate-change debates at the time, you’d have known that the threat was: global cooling…

Citizens can judge for themselves what constitutes a prudent response-which, indeed, is what occurred 30 years ago. All in all, it’s probably just as well that society elected not to follow one of the possible solutions mentioned in the NEWSWEEK article: to pour soot over the Arctic ice cap, to help it melt.

Newsweek was not alone. Some scientists and the press have been warning about an ice age off and on for over 100 years.

For example, on February 24, 1895, the New York Times published an article entitled “PROSPECTS OF ANOTHER GLACIAL PERIOD; Geologists Think the World May Be Frozen Up Again”, which starts with the following paragraph:

The question is again being discussed whether recent and long-continued observations do not point to the advent of a second glacial period, when the countries now basking in the fostering warmth of a tropical sun will ultimately give way to the perennial frost and snow of the polar regions.

In September 1958, Harper’s wrote an article called “The Coming Ice Age”.

On January 11, 1970, the Washington Post wrote an article entitled “Colder Winters Held Dawn of New Ice Age – Scientists See Ice Age In the Future” which stated:

Get a good grip on your long johns, cold weather haters–the worst may be yet to come. That’s the long-long-range weather forecast being given out by “climatologists.” the people who study very long-term world weather trends.

In 1972, two scientists – George J. Kukla (of the Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory) and R. K. Matthews (Chairman, Dept of Geological Sciences, Brown University) – wrote the following letter to President Nixon warning of the possibility of a new ice age:

Dear Mr. President:

Aware of your deep concern with the future of the world, we feel obliged to inform you on the results of the scientific conference held here recently. The conference dealt with the past and future changes of climate and was attended by 42 top American and European investigators. We enclose the summary report published in Science and further publications are forthcoming in Quaternary Research.

The main conclusion of the meeting was that a global deterioration of climate, by order of magnitude larger than any hitherto experience by civilized mankind, is a very real possibility and indeed may be due very soon.

The cooling has natural cause and falls within the rank of processes which produced the last ice age. This is a surprising result based largely on recent studies of deep sea sediments.

Existing data still do not allow forecast of the precise timing of the predicted development, nor the assessment of the man’s interference with the natural trends. It could not be excluded however that the cooling now under way in the Northern Hemisphere is the start of the expected shift. The present rate of the cooling seems fast enough to bring glacial temperatures in about a century, if continuing at the present pace.

The practical consequences which might be brought by such developments to existing social institution are among others:

(1) Substantially lowered food production due to the shorter growing seasons and changed rain distribution in the main grain producing belts of the world, with Eastern Europe and Central Asia to be first affected.

(2) Increased frequency and amplitude of extreme weather anomalies such as those bringing floods, snowstorms, killing frosts, etc.

With the efficient help of the world leaders, the research “

With best regards,

George J. Kukla (Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory)

R. K. Matthews (Chairman, Dept of Geological Sciences, Brown U)

The White House assigned the task of looking at the claims contained in the letter to its science agencies, especially the National Science Foundation and NOAA, who engaged in a flurry of activity looking into the threat of an ice age.

On August 1, 1974 the White House wrote a letter to Secretary of Commerce Frederick Dent stating:

Changes in climate in recent years have resulted in unanticipated impacts on key national programs and policies. Concern has been expressed that recent changes may presage others. In order to assess the problem and to determine what concerted action ought to be undertaken, I have decided to establish a subcommittee on Climate Change.

Out of this concern, the U.S. government started monitoring climate.

As NOAA scientists Robert W. Reeves, Daphne Gemmill, Robert E. Livezey, and James Laver point out:

There were also a number of short-term climate events of national and international consequence in the early 1970s that commanded a certain level of attention in Washington. Many of them were linked to the El Niño of 1972-1973.
A killing winter freeze followed by a severe summer heat wave and drought produced a 12 percent shortfall in Russian grain production in 1972. The Soviet decision to offset the losses by purchase abroad reduced world grain reserves and helped drive up food prices.

Collapse of the Peruvian anchovy harvest in late 1972 and early 1973, related to fluctuations in the Pacific ocean currents and atmospheric circulation, impacted world supplies of fertilizer, the soybean market, and prices of all other protein feedstocks.

The anomalously low precipitation in the U.S. Pacific north-west during the winter of 1972-73 depleted reservoir storage by an amount equivalent to more than 7 percent of the electric energy requirements for the region.On June 24, 1974, Time Magazine wrote an article entitled “Another Ice Age?” which stated:

As they review the bizarre and unpredictable weather pattern of the past several years, a growing number of scientists are beginning to suspect that many seemingly contradictory meteorological fluctuations are actually part of a global climatic upheaval. However widely the weather varies from place to place and time to time, when meteorologists take an average of temperatures around the globe they find that the atmosphere has been growing gradually cooler for the past three decades. The trend shows no indication of reversing. Climatological Cassandras are becoming increasingly apprehensive, for the weather aberrations they are studying may be the harbinger of another ice age.

Telltale signs are everywhere …

Whatever the cause of the cooling trend, its effects could be extremely serious, if not catastrophic. Scientists figure that only a 1% decrease in the amount of sunlight hitting the earth’s surface could tip the climatic balance, and cool the planet enough to send it sliding down the road to another ice age within only a few hundred years.

(here’s the printer-friendly version).

Science News wrote an article in 1975 called “Chilling Possibilities” warning of a new ice age.

A January 1975 article from the New York Times warned:

The most drastic potential change considered in the new report (by the National Academy of Sciences) is an abrupt end to the present interglacial period of relative warmth that has governed the planet’s climate for the past 10,000 years.

A May 21, 1975 article in the New York Times again stated:

Sooner or later a major cooling of the climate is widely considered inevitable.

A 1994 Time article entitled “The Ice Age Cometh?” stated:

What ever happened to global warming? Scientists have issued apocalyptic warnings for years, claiming that gases from cars, power plants and factories are creating a greenhouse effect that will boost the temperature dangerously over the next 75 years or so. But if last week is any indication of winters to come, it might be more to the point to start worrying about the next Ice Age instead. After all, human-induced warming is still largely theoretical, while ice ages are an established part of the planet’s history. The last one ended about 10,000 years ago; the next one — for there will be a next one — could start tens of thousands of years from now. Or tens of years. Or it may have already started.


Note 1: Given that scientists considered pouring soot on the North Pole to melt the ice in the 1970’s, it should come as no surprise that soot may be having a dramatic effect on the ice sheets and glaciers now.

Note 2: Some global warming advocates warn that a warming-induced shut down of the huge ocean current known as the thermohaline circulation could cause a new ice age in certain limited parts of the world that are warmed by the by the North Atlantic current, such as Iceland, Ireland, the Nordic countries, and Britain. But scientists in the 1970s were talking about something different: the start of a worldwide ice age due, for example, to a 100,000 year cycle in solar radiation hitting the Earth.


Note 3: I not only do not receive a penny from oil or any other energy, industry or political person or organization of any nature whatsoever (I make a few peanuts from ads on my site, which I do not choose, but are selected without my input by my ad service), I am also wholly and completely against big oil, big coal and big nuclear. As I have repeatedly argued, power should be taken away from the oil giants and decentralized. I have repeatedly argued for microgeneration and for alternative energy. These things are beneficial for a number of reasons – including better health, less corruption of our political systems through decentralization of power, and a boost to our economy – in addition to whatever climate benefits they may have.

Note 4: For further information on the swing between warnings of ice ages and runaway global warming, see this and this. I have verified all of the facts made in the main post above, but I have not yet verified all of the claims made in the last two aforementioned web pages.

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Arrogant scientists and Obama administration should recall the story of the old lady who swallowed a fly.

by qbit on Apr.08, 2009, under In the News

Pea-brained, arrogant Obama administration scientists recommend spewing more pollution into the atmosphere to “solve global warming.”

Wouldn’t it make more sense to invest the money in alternative energy production and/or install better scrubbers on all coal/gas smokestacks?  It would be orders of magnitude more efficient to catch the pollution at the source rather than to try to sequester it from the atmosphere once its already been released and dispersed.

Please keep in mind, co2 makes up a fraciton of 1% of our atmosphere

By the way there’s snow on the ground right now outside my office, and its April.

Regardless this new proposed aerosol dispersal is a terrible idea just as the secret aerosol chemtrail program is.

. . .

WASHINGTON (AP) — Obama looks at “climate engineering”

The president’s new science adviser said Wednesday that global warming is so dire, the Obama administration is discussing radical technologies to cool Earth’s air.

John Holdren told The Associated Press in his first interview since being confirmed last month that the idea of geoengineering the climate is being discussed. One such extreme option includes shooting pollution particles into the upper atmosphere to reflect the sun’s rays. Holdren said such an experimental measure would only be used as a last resort.

“It’s got to be looked at,” he said. “We don’t have the luxury of taking any approach off the table.”

Holdren outlined several “tipping points” involving global warming that could be fast approaching. Once such milestones are reached, such as complete loss of summer sea ice in the Arctic, it increases chances of “really intolerable consequences,” he said.

Twice in a half-hour interview, Holdren compared global warming to being “in a car with bad brakes driving toward a cliff in the fog.”

At first, Holdren characterized the potential need to technologically tinker with the climate as just his personal view. However, he went on to say he has raised it in administration discussions.

Holdren, a 65-year-old physicist, is far from alone in taking geoengineering more seriously. The National Academy of Science is making climate tinkering the subject of its first workshop in its new multidiscipline climate challenges program. The British parliament has also discussed the idea.

The American Meteorological Society is crafting a policy statement on geoengineering that says “it is prudent to consider geoengineering’s potential, to understand its limits and to avoid rash deployment.”

Last week, Princeton scientist Robert Socolow told the National Academy that geoengineering should be an available option in case climate worsens dramatically.

But Holdren noted that shooting particles into the air — making an artificial volcano as one Nobel laureate has suggested — could have grave side effects and would not completely solve all the problems from soaring greenhouse gas emissions. So such actions could not be taken lightly, he said.

Still, “we might get desperate enough to want to use it,” he added.

Another geoengineering option he mentioned was the use of so-called artificial trees to suck carbon dioxide — the chief human-caused greenhouse gas — out of the air and store it. At first that seemed prohibitively expensive, but a re-examination of the approach shows it might be less costly, he said.

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PDF version of “The Not-So Secret Ingredient: Stadis 450″ available

by qbit on Mar.04, 2009, under What are they?

I’ve uploaded a PDF version of The not-so-secret ingredient: Stadis 450 (dinonylnaphthalene sulfonic acid, barium salt).

Download the PDF here.

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Patent for seeding stratosphere with metal aerosol in jet fuel “to prevent global warming”

by qbit on Feb.08, 2009, under What are they?

While I’m skeptical that atmospheric CO2 is the primary cause of “global warming,” or that our earth is even warming at all (coldest winter in 50 years this year, in north america and china), I do strongly believe the 10-20% increase in the earth’s albedo (reflectivity) caused by chemtrail aerosol will have a significant cooling effect.  Sunlight and water vapor are the primary driving forces of the earth’s surface temperature. CO2 makes up only .03% of our atmosphere (thats three-hundredths of a percent), and a tiny fraction of the primary greenhouse gas, water vapor.

-Qbit

United States Patent 5003186 [pdf]

Abstract:

A method is described for reducing atmospheric or global warming resulting from the presence of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere, i.e., from the greenhouse effect. Such gases are relatively transparent to sunshine, but absorb strongly the long-wavelength infrared radiation released by the earth. The method incudes the step of seeding the layer of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere with particles of materials characterized by wavelength-dependent emissivity. Such materials include Welsbach materials and the oxides of metals which have high emissivity (and thus low reflectivities) in the visible and 8-12 micron infrared wavelength regions.

What is claimed is:

1. A method of reducing atmospheric warming due to the greenhouse effect resulting from a layer of gases in the atmosphere which absorb strongly near infrared wavelength radiation, comprising the step of dispersing tiny particles of a material within the gases’ layer, the particle material characterized by wavelength-dependent emissivity or reflectivity, in that said material has high emissivities with respect to radiation in the visible and far infrared wavelength spectra, and low emissivity in the near infrared wavelength spectrum, whereby said tiny particles provide a means for converting infrared heat energy into far infrared radiation which is radiated into space.

2. The method of claim wherein said material comprises one or more of the oxides of metals.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said material comprises aluminum oxide.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said material comprises thorium oxide.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said particles are dispersed by seeding the stratosphere with a quantity of said particles at altitudes in the range of seven to thirteen kilometers above the earth’s surface.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the size of said particles is in the range of ten to one hundred microns.

7. The method of claim wherein said material comprises a refractory material.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein said material is a Welsbach material.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the number of said dispersed particles per unit area in the particle layer is greater than or equal to 1/σabs 1, where 1 is the thickness of the particle layer and σabs is the absorption coefficient of the particles at the far infrared wavelengths.

10. A method for reducing atmospheric warming due to the greenhouse effect resulting from a greenhouse gases layer, comprising the following step:

seeding the greenhouse gases’ layer with a quantity of tiny particles of a material characterized by wavelength-dependent emissivity or reflectivity, in that said materials have high emissivities in the visible and far infrared wavelength spectra and low emissivity in the near infrared wavelength spectrum,

whereby said particles are suspended within said gases’ layer and provide a means for converting radiative energy at near infrared wavelengths into radiation at the far infrared wavelengths, permitting some of the converted radiation to escape into space.
11. The method of claim 10 wherein said material comprises one or more of the oxides of metals.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein said material comprises aluminum oxide.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein said material is thorium oxide.

14. The method of claim 10 wherein said seeding is performed at altitudes in the range of seven to thirteen kilometers above the earth’s surface.

15. The method of claim 10 wherein said material comprises a refractory material.

16. The method of claim 10 wherein said particle size is in range of ten to one hundred microns.

17. The method of claim 10 wherein said material is a Welsbach material.

18. The method of claim 10 wherein the number of said dispersed particles per unit area in the particle layer is greater than or equal to 1/σabs 1, where 1 is the thickness of the particle layer and σabs is the absorption coefficient of the particles at the far infrared wavelengths.

Description:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a method for the reduction of global warming resulting from the greenhouse effect, and in particular to a method which involves the seeding of the earth’s stratosphere with Welsbach-like materials.

Global warming has been a great concern of many environmental scientists. Scientists believe that the greenhouse effect is responsible for global warming. Greatly increased amounts of heat-trapping gases have been generated since the Industrial Revolution. These gases, such as CO 2 , CFC, and methane, accumulate in the atmosphere and allow sunlight to stream in freely but block heat from escaping (greenhouse effect). These gases are relatively transparent to sunshine but absorb strongly the long-wavelength infrared radiation released by the earth.

Most current approaches to reduce global warming are to restrict the release of various greenhouse gases, such as CO 2 , CFC, and methane. These imply the need to establish new regulations and the need to monitor various gases and to enforce the regulations.

One proposed solution to the problem of global warming involves the seeding of the atmosphere with metallic particles. One technique proposed to seed the metallic particles was to add the tiny particles to the fuel of jet airliners, so that the particles would be emitted from the jet engine exhaust while the airliner was at its cruising altitude. While this method would increase the reflection of visible light incident from space, the metallic particles would trap the long wavelength blackbody radiation released from the earth. This could result in net increase in global warming.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method for reduction of global warming due to the greenhouse effect which permits heat to escape through the atmosphere.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A method is disclosed for reducing atmospheric warming due to the greenhouse effect resulting from a greenhouse gases layer. The method comprises the step of seeding the greenhouse gas layer with a quantity of tiny particles of materials characterized by wavelength-dependent emissivity or reflectivity, in that said materials have high emissivities in the visible and far infrared wavelength regions and low emissivity in the near infrared wavelength region. Such materials can include the class of materials known as Welsbach materials. The oxides of metal, e.g., aluminum oxide, are also suitable for the purpose. The greenhouse gases layer typically extends between about seven and thirteen kilometers above the earth’s surface. The seeding of the stratosphere occurs within this layer. The particles suspended in the stratosphere as a result of the seeding provide a mechanism for converting the blackbody radiation emitted by the earth at near infrared wavelengths into radiation in the visible and far infrared wavelength so that this heat energy may be reradiated out into space, thereby reducing the global warming due to the greenhouse effect.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of an exemplary embodiment thereof, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a model for the heat trapping phenomenon, i.e., the greenhouse effect.

FIG. 2 is a graph illustrating the intensity of sunlight incident on earth and of the earth’s blackbody radiation as a function of wavelength.

FIG. 3 is a graph illustrating an ideal emissivity versus wavelength function for the desired particle material.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 shows a model for the heat-trapping (greenhouse effect) phenomenon. It is assumed that the greenhouse gases are concentrated at altitudes between y=0 (at some altitude Y 1 , above the earth’s surface) and y=1. Regardless of the sunshine reflected back into space, i 1 and i 2 denote the shortwavelength sunlight energies that are absorbed by the earth’s surface and the greenhouse gases, respectively. Available data shows that i 1 =0.45 i sol and i 2 =0.25 i sol , where i sol is the total flux from the sun. The short wavelength sunlight heats up the greenhouse gases and the earth surface, and this energy is eventually reradiated out in the long wavelength infrared region.

FIG. 2 is a graph illustrating the intensity of sunlight and the earth’s blackbody radiation as a function of wavelength. As illustrated, some 30% of the sunlight energy is in the near infrared region. The earth’s blackbody radiation, on the other hand, is at the far infrared wavelength.

Referring again to FIG. 1, I s , I + , I - , I g and I e represent the fluxes in the infrared wavelength region, where I s and I g are the fluxes reradiated by the greenhouse gases toward the sky and ground, respectively; I e is the flux reradiated by the earth; and I + and I - are fluxes within the gases radiating toward the space and ground, respectively. I + and I - are functions of y, e.g., I + (0) is the I + flux at y=0. Considering the principles of energy conservation and continuity at boundaries, the following relationships are obtained: I s =i 1 +i 2 (1) I s =I + (1)(1-R l ) (2) I - (1)=I + (1)R l (3) I + (0)=I - (0)R o +I e (1-R o ) (4) I g =I - (0)(1-R o )+I e R o (5) I e =I BB (T e )(1-R)+I g R (6) I e =i 1 +I g (7)

where R o , R l and R are the reflectivities at the y=0 and y=1 boundaries and at the earth’s surface. I BB (T e ) is the blackbody radiation flux at the earth’s temperature T e . Within the greenhouse gases’ layer, the energy equations are (dI + /dy)=I BB (T g )-αI + (8) -(dI - /dy)=I BB (T g )-αI - (9)

where I BB (T g ) is the blackbody radiation flux at the greenhouse gases’ temperature T g , and α is the absorption coefficient of the gases. The solutions of equations 8 and 9 are given by equations 10 and 11: I + (y)=(I BB /α)+Ce αy (10) I - (y)=(I BB /α)+De + αy (11)

To illustrate the effects of R o and R l on the green-house effect, the extreme case is considered wherein a high concentration of greenhouse gases has strong absorption in the infrared region; that is, for y=1, e - αl approaches 0. Then, using Equations 3 and 4, the relationships of Equations 12 and 13 are obtained. C=(I e -(I BB /α))(1-R o ) (12) D=0

From Equations 5 and 7, I e =i 1 +I - (0)(1-R o )+I e R o ,

or I e =(i 1 /(1-R o ))+(I BB /α). (14)

From Equations 2 and 1, I s =(I BB /α)(1-R l )=i 1 +i 2 ,

or (I BB /α)=(i 1 +i 2 )/(1-R l ). (15)

Combining Equations 14 and 15, the relationship of Equation 16 is obtained. I e =i 1 /(1-R o )+(i 1 +i 2 )/(1-R l )(16)

Finally, Equation 6 gives the blackbody radiation from the earth’s surface in terms of i 1 and i 2 and the three reflectivities: I e =I BB (T e )(1-R)+(I e -i 1 )R I BB (T e )=I e +(R/(1-R))i 1

or I BB (T e )=i 1 /(1-R o )+(i 1 +i 2 )/(1-R l )+(R/(1-R))i 1 (17)

To achieve a lower temperature of the earth, (considering i 1 , i 2 and R as constants), it is desirable to make R and R l as small as possible.

Known refractory materials have a thermal emissivity function which is strongly wavelength dependent. For example, the materials may have high emissivity (and absorption) at the far infrared wavelengths, high emissivity in the visible wavelength range, and very low emissivity at intermediate wavelengths. If a material having those emissivity characteristics and a black body are exposed to IR energy of equal intensity, the selective thermal radiator will emit visible radiation with higher efficiency (if radiation cooling predominates), i.e., the selective thermal radiator will appear brighter than the black body. This effect is known as the Welsbach effect and is extensively used in commercial gas lantern mantles.

Welsbach materials have the characteristic of wavelength-dependent emissivity (or reflectivity). For example, thorium oxide (ThO 2 ) has high emissivities in the visible and far IR regions but it has low emissivity in the near IR region. So, in accordance with the invention, the layer of greenhouse gases is seeded with Welsbach or Welsbach-like materials which have high emissivities (and thus low reflectivities) in the visible and 8-12 micrometer infrared regions, which has the effect of reducing R o and R l while introducing no effect in the visible range.

A desired material for the stratospheric seeding has a reflection coefficient close to unity for near IR radiation, and a reflection coefficient close to zero (or emissity close to unity) for far IR radiation. FIG. 3 is a graph illustrating an ideal emissivity versus wavelength function for the desired material. Another class of materials having the desired property includes the oxides of metals. For example, aluminum oxide (Al 2 O 3 ) is one metal oxide suitable for the purpose and which is relatively inexpensive.

It is presently believed that particle sizes in the ten to one hundred micron range would be suitable for the seeding purposes. Larger particles would tend to settle to the earth more quickly.

The particles in the required size range can be obtained with conventional methods of grinding and meshing.

It is believed that the number of particles n d per unit area in the particle layer should be defined by Equation 18: n d 1≥1/σ abs (18)

where 1 is the thickness of the particle layer and σ abs is the absorption coefficient of the particles at the long IR wavelengths. One crude estimate of the density of particles is given by Equation (19): n d 1≥(cmw)/(4πe 2 ) (19)

where c is the speed of light, m is the average particle mass, e is the electron charge, and w is the absorption line width in sec -1 .

The greenhouse gases are typically in the earth’s stratosphere at an altitude of seven to thirteen kilometers. This suggests that the particle seeding should be done at an altitude on the order of 10 kilometers. The particles may be seeded by dispersal from seeding aircraft; one exemplary technique may be via the jet fuel as suggested by prior work regarding the metallic particles. Once the tiny particles have been dispersed into the atmosphere, the particles may remain in suspension for up to one year.

It is understood that the above-described embodiment is merely illustrative of the possible specific embodiments which may represent principles of the present invention. Other arrangements may readily be devised in accordance with these principles by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

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