DJ, <>> wonder what the distribution of clouds is by latitude. << To realize the complexity of the models just factor in the two facts >
As you will have noticed in my previous post, I didn't bother trying to conclude how cloud cover works. I just know that something happens and it's probably stable equilibrium in wide bounds since we haven't gone to a frozen Mars or steamy Venus state in a billion years, despite very wide-ranging conditions.
Cloudiness is not like the stripping of carbon from the ecosystem and permanent burying of it in limestone, coal, gas and oil deposits [permanent other than geomorphological and tectonic processes recycling some of it]. Stripping of carbon is an easy thing to figure out = carbon has been on a one-way street to burial and Earth has been on a one way street to lifelessness, stopped by humans, who, uniquely among animals, dig up the carbon, bringing it back to life.
Without humans, carbon would continue to be extracted by the biosphere and buried, until life fizzles out. Though that would take so long that it wasn't a serious problem.
Cloudiness is a real problem. Supercomputers hack away at clouds and have limited success. Weather forecasts are notoriously problematic.
When I get a round tuit, I'll look for data on cloud cover and see if I can knock it into climatic shape.
As you say, we can't just go on studying forever. We are on a one-way, not-to-be-repeated, real-time, life or death experiment and there's no way out. What our next move in the experiment should be is the question.
Some people think, apparently as a general rule, that anything we do is bad, which is the Amish/Luddite/Greenpeace/Friends of the Earth, "Stop the world I want to get off", approach. Some are, "Gung Ho, damn the torpedoes, to hell with icebergs, full steam ahead", propelled, usually, by cash and self-interest.
I've seen plenty of both, having been an insider in BP Oil with health, safety and environmental aspects [HSE] my major issue [especially when in the fuels side of the business]. Turning BP around from being environmentally indifferent in the mid 1980s was like trying to steer a super-tanker with a row-boat as a tug-boat [okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration].
I'm happy to say that in my few years, there was a significant change, though nowhere near as enthusiastic or quick as I'd have liked.
It took until the mid 1990s to make NZ petrol lead-free and it was only in the last few years that 98 octane petrol has been available.
Gaia tries to do a good job on keeping the ecosystem in business, but without our input [and soon to be It's], Gaia is brainless. With applied intelligence, we can really get things going and stop the rot.
Now, I must get my head back in the clouds. Maybe after a nice cup of tea and a nap.
Mqurice |
