Latest Global Warming Worry: Megacryometeors
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 07.11.06
As if we didn't have enough to worry about when it comes to our slowly but persistently heating planet, Mark at 3r Blogging points to a couple of stories about megacryometeors. Mega-wha? Huge (as in 30 pounds and up) balls of ice that are falling from the sky; see the impact of one above (left) and the damage done on the way down (right). Having determined that the mega-ice-balls are not falling from aircraft or breaking off from passing comets, and, based on their composition and structure, scientists are postulating that we have global warming to thank for what amounts to huge mutant hail. As the globe warms, temperatures on Earth's surface and in the atmosphere increase, creating colder conditions in the stratosphere, the uppermost layer of the atmosphere. Scientists have linked megacryometeors to unusual conditions in the "tropopause," the boundary between the troposphere (the lower atmosphere) and the stratosphere. Located five to nine miles above the surface, the tropopause marks the limit of clouds and is important in the development of storms. Global warming may be making the tropopause colder, moister and more turbulent, creating conditions in which ice crystals grow like ordinary hailstones in thunderclouds, but much, much bigger. We recommend watching the skies and stocking up on umbrellas. ::The Star via ::3r Blogging
How about just calling it "mega-hail"? Seems like that would get the point across without so much explanation.
So the warming causes ice? Is there anything we can't blame on global warming? ;-)
Let's be careful how much we "blame" on global warming. The skeptics love articles like this because they point them out as hysterical and unfounded, even if there's some truth to it!
Have to agree with Gator, it does seem really silly to say "Global warming may be making the tropopause colder".
There may very well be a rational and scientific reason why this is the case. However I suspect that 'Joe Average' wouldn't understand how or why (and I include myself in this category).
How does a warmer atmosphere cause a colder atmosphere?
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I don't think the term "Global Warming" should be viewed as the earth turning into an inferno all at once. While regions such as the equator warms up significantly, melting of the ice caps will certainly cause some regions, including the atmosphere, to experience more dramatic cold weather pattern. Another explaination is that the change in weather patterns will cause some regions to be hotter, and some to be colder.
In either case, what I've said above are just examples of the basics in Climate Change science. All I'm saying here is that people should not get all wrap up on the word "warming" and take some time to look into the explainations behind climate models.
i haven't heard of megahail before - this is interesting... but what causes hail is large updrafts in thunderstorms. tiny ice balls fall down in the stormcloud, are blown back up, fall back down, blow back up, etc, getting larger every time. the stronger the updraft, the larger the hail, because it stays aloft longer. hotter surface temps and a larger difference between the warm and cold air masses create stronger updrafts. that is why hail occurs in the summer and not the winter. so it's not that warming is causing ice - warming is making more violent thunderstorms, which create enormous hailstones (or so it seems from this story).
it is not too hard to see why global warming would cause larger hail. if it makes bigger, stronger thunderstorms (which it should, since it would increase the thermal energy of the storms), then it stands to reason.
the tropopause is what acts as the "ceiling" on thunderstorms. If you ever see a thunderstorm with a pooched-out top on the anvil (the topmost part that spreads out) that means that a very strong updraft has broken through the tropopause. those storms are more likely to cause hail.
just thought you might like to know - in case you find storms as interesting as i do :)
never mind... i just read the blogger's site. it's *not* hail - it falls from the clear sky. WEIRD.
that's why they aren't calling it hail. because it's not hail.
whoa.
Hi,
Perhaps I think you can be interested on reading the original scientific papers before making more comments. See Martinez-Frias et al (2005) Journal of Atmospheric Chemistry:
http://tierra.rediris.es/publipapers/megacryometeors_JAC.pdf
Now, consider that many authors have stressed the potential relationship between the stratosphere cooling and Global Warming:
http://www.atmosphere.mpg.de/enid/20c.html
Megacryometeors are curiously related with an anomalous behaviour of the tropopause (troposphere-stratosphere boundary). So...Umm it's curious...
Perhapse there is a biblical answer to this.
The bible says:
Revelation 16:15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
Revelation 16:21 And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.
This just might be a taste of what we read in the bible.
Thanks
Somehting else that the bible speaks of is...
The that the earth wil be destroyed by fire this last time and that the Lord is coming back to destroy those who are destroying the earth.