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Published online 31 December 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2008.1335
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Can aircraft trails affect climate?
Grounding planes after the 11 September attacks may not have caused unusual temperature effects.
When all commercial air traffic in the United States was grounded after the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, scientists got an unexpected opportunity to test ideas about the climate effects of the condensation trails left behind by jets.
A study in 20021 suggested that these contrails could have a significant effect on daily temperature patterns (see 'Air-traffic moratorium opened window on contrails and climate.
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Not Climate - Global or Regional Temperatures. The caption is misleading. There is disagreement on the significance of every bit of evidence regarding influences on temperatures and climate. Like the weather - still unpredictable.
The temperature change caused by the three day absence of contrails might have revealed itself after, not during, the 3 day period. The study of the temperature change ocurred after the period may offer more valuable information.
This contrail study is typical of global warming, consensus, settled 'science'. The warmers find something, claim it's due to our activities then say: "Prove us wrong." Anthropogenic global warming is patently false, fueled by the UN-the only organization of lower esteem than Congress-and was proven to be wrong over 100 years ago! Look at Humphreys book, "Physics of the Air." I've posted some comments in this reqard on another Nature Blog. Happy New Year . . . Dr Robert L Hamilton, Engineer
I hope that Dr. Hamilton is right because then there is nothing to worry about. But that seems unlikely, so instead I'll hope he's completely wrong. We're likely to need every tool at our disposal to deal with global warming. Manipulation of the albedo seems promising to me because it does not involve assuming things that are not going to happen... such as significant reductions in fossil fuel consumption.
"Things" are going to happen, you can rest assured about that. The climate will change as it has done throughout Earth's history, but taxing our cows for passing methane, or eating less curry so that you don't, may not make a difference. If you look at the temperature vs CO2 level graphs from the ice core data from Antarctica you will notice two things the CO2 levels vary regularly and these correlate quite well with global temperatures. But there is a lag on the average of about 250 years. The questions to ask are why do the CO2 levels vary without the human help and if CO2 and methane levels cause the global temperatures to rise and fall then why the lag? Could it be that it is the fluctuations of Global temperatures that cause the CO2 levels to eventually rise and fall rather than the other way round? Due to the burning of fossil fuels CO2 levels today are "off the charts" yet the temperatures have not risen all that dramatically. The IPCC has repeatedly toned down its temperature rise estimates. And in all this sorry political idealogical hotair the function of our primary source of warmth the Sun has been totally neglected.