<buleg...@columbus.rr.com> schreef in bericht
news:7d5f5b8a-1478-4e68-bd43-4c02b88e0fc6@t42g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
> Did you know that greater harm has been done to the eco-systems on
> earth over time by volcanos than just about anything else?
> Volcanos have the potential to greatly cool the earth due to their ash
> reflecting sunlight back to space. Undisputed fact!
> I like to think of global warming as a little bit of pocket insurance
> against the true threat that could wipe out mankind - Volcanos.
> Lets burn a little more fossil fuel, just incase a volcano erupts. We
> may just be able to stave off the extinction of mankind if we can get
> enough CO2 into the atmosphere prior to the next vocanic eruption.
> We must hurry though. A volcano could erupt at any time!
There's a small but crucial problem with your plan. While you emphasise the
prompt cooling effect of volcanic eruptions, the carbon dioxide that is
emitted along with the ash and the sulphur dioxide has a much longer
life-time in the atmosphere than either, and seems to have been responsible
for the seriously bad effects of those large-scale volcanic eruptions - the
ones that created the Siberian and Deccan Traps - which caused global
extinctions by warming the earth rather than cooling it.
This suggests that burning extra fossil fuel to induce some pre-emptive
global warming to mitigate the short term cooling fron the ash and the
sulphur dioxide might not seem such a good idea when these inital effects
had abated, and the extra CO2 injected into the atmosphere by the eruption
added it's contribution to global warming. We are already close enough to
triggering the clathrate gun that responsible people are agitating to reduce
global waming rather than enhance it.
You might like to find out a bit more about your chosen subject before your
next attempt to influence public opinion.
--
Bill Sloman, Nijnegen
