Picture of methods our weather conditions are impacted by green house gases is really a 'cloudy' one

The warming aftereffect of human-caused green house gases is really a given, but as to the extent are we able to predict its future influence? That's an problem which science is making progress, however the solutions continue to be not even close to exact, say scientists in the Hebrew College of Jerusalem, the united states and Australia who've analyzed the problem and whose work that has just made an appearance within the journal Science.

Indeed, you could state that the image is really a "cloudy" one, because the resolution of the green house gas effect involves multifaceted interactions with cloud cover.

To some degree, aerosols -- contaminants that float in mid-air triggered by dust or pollution, including green house gases -- combat area of the doing harm to results of climate warming by growing the quantity of sunlight reflected from clouds back to space. However, the ways that these aerosols affect climate through their interaction with clouds are complex and incompletely taken by climate models, the scientists. Consequently, the radiative forcing (that's, the disturbance to Earth's "energy budget" in the sun) triggered by human activities is extremely uncertain, which makes it hard to predict the extent of climatic change.

Even though advances have brought to some more detailed knowledge of aerosol-cloud interactions as well as their effects on climate, further progress is hampered by limited observational abilities and coarse climate models, states Prof. Daniel Rosenfeld from the Fredy and Nadine Herrmann Institute of Earth Sciences in the Hebrew College of Jerusalem, author of this article in Science. Rosenfeld authored this short article in cooperation with Dr. Steven Sherwood from the College of Nsw, Sydney, Dr. Robert Wood from the College of Washington, Dallas, and Dr. Leo Donner of america National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. .

Their recent reports have revealed an infinitely more complicated picture of aerosol-cloud interactions than considered formerly. With respect to the meteorological conditions, aerosols might have dramatic results of either growing or lowering the cloud sun-deflecting effect, the scientists say. In addition, little is famous concerning the unperturbed aerosol level that been around within the preindustrial era. This reference level is essential for calculating the radiative forcing from aerosols.

Also requiring further clarification may be the response from the cloud cover and organization to losing water by rain fall. Knowledge of the development of ice and it is interactions with liquid tiny droplets is much more limited, mainly because of poor capability to appraise the ice-nucleating activity of aerosols and also the subsequent ice-developing processes in clouds.

Explicit computer simulations of those processes even in the scale of a complete cloud or multi-cloud system, not to mention those of the earth, require 100s of hrs around the most effective computer systems available. Therefore, a sufficiently accurate simulation of those processes in a global scale continues to be not practical.

Lately, however, scientists have had the ability to create groundbreaking simulations by which models were developed showing simplified schemes of cloud-aerosol interactions, This method offers the opportunity of model runs that resolve clouds on the global scale for time scales as much as many years, but climate simulations on the scale of the century continue to be not achievable. The model can also be too coarse to solve most of the fundamental aerosol-cloud processes in the scales which they really occur. Enhanced observational exams are required for validating the outcomes of simulations and making certain that modeling developments are on course, the scientists.

Even though it is unfortunate that further progress on understanding aerosol-cloud interactions as well as their effects on weather conditions are restricted to insufficient observational tools and models, experienceing this needed improvement in findings and simulations is at technological achieve, the scientists stress, so long as the financial assets are invested. The amount of effort, they are saying, should match the socioeconomic need for exactly what the results could provide: lower uncertainty in calculating human-made climate forcing and understanding and forecasts of future impacts of aerosols on the climate and weather.

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Going Against the Green Grain on Natural Gas

HOUSTON—The Environmental Defense Fund is known for its willingness to work with industry on energy and climate-change policies. That inclination is on display more than ever at a major energy conference that kicked off here on Monday with a heavy focus on the development of natural gas.

More than 300 experts and executives from the global energy industry are attending the IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates annual conference, known as CERA Week, and just a handful of them bring an environmental viewpoint to the proceedings. Among those are two experts from New York-based EDF, an influential environmental group that often deviates from its counterparts such as the Sierra Club to partner with fossil-fuel industries.

“You don’t make change by simply talking to people who agree with you,” Mark Brownstein, deputy director of the energy program at EDF, told National Journal Daily after speaking on a panel about natural gas on Monday. “You certainly don’t make change if you’re not knowledgeable about the folks that you’re trying to change.”

EDF President Fred Krupp speaks on another panel, also about natural gas, on Wednesday.

Many environmental groups are critical of natural gas, specifically the controversial method used to extract the recently discovered reserves of shale natural gas all over the country.

Hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as “fracking,” is a process in which large amounts of water, chemicals, and sand are pumped into a well at high pressures to fracture rock and allow natural gas to escape. Concerns persist about water contamination and the climate-change impact of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that escapes during the gas production process.  Natural gas burns 50 percent more cleanly than coal, but less data is available on what impact methane emissions during production are having on climate change.

“If we’re not able to do this correctly, it will fundamentally limit the supply and limit the opportunity,” Brownstein said.

Brownstein was a lone wolf on a panel of six experts; the others were all from the energy sector. Some often looked to Brownstein for the other perspective, with “other” meaning anything besides the views of an energy company or consulting firm.

The experts were discussing a new study of North America’s recently-discovered reserves of shale natural gas. Brownstein worked with industry on the report, which was led by the National Petroleum Council, a federal advisory committee made up of oil and gas executives.

“The most surprising thing to me was actually participating,” Brownstein quipped about the report.

In his closing remarks, Brownstein made a bid to win over critics of natural gas by arguing for its potential to provide the country with bountiful, and comparatively clean, energy.

“Plenty of people out there are betting that it won’t happen and preparing for the eventuality that it won’t,” Brownstein said. “I think it’s up to all of us in the room to, frankly, prove them wrong.”

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Kansas town rises green from tornado rubble (Reuters)

GREENSBURG, Kansas (Reuters) – When community leaders in tornado-ravaged places such as Joplin, Mo., consider the future, they look to Greensburg, Kansas.

Destroyed by a powerful tornado on May 4, 2007, Greensburg is renowned for its rebirth as a community of sustainable living. The town has energy-saving buildings and landscaping at every turn, drawing curious public officials and tourists from around the world.

"Greensburg is certainly a great story," said Steve Castaner, a long-term recovery manager for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. "It's a laboratory for how you can take advantage of opportunities to reinvent yourself."

Next week, FEMA will host a "sustainable communities workshop" in Greensburg, attended by people from Joplin and two southeast U.S. communities recently damaged by tornadoes. They will learn how to follow Greensburg's example.

The EF-5 tornado destroyed 95 percent of Greensburg, a town of 1,600 in the flat farmland of south central Kansas. Almost immediately, city, state and community leaders talked about bringing Greensburg back green, said Mayor Bob Dixson.

Greensburg's population is down to about 800 because of a loss of housing stock and jobs, but it draws "a pilgrimage" of people who want to see sustainability at work, said Matt Deighton, a volunteer who gives tours of the town.

There is plenty to see.

The tornado destroyed many of the town's large trees, so wind turbines now outnumber them. The town has a ten-turbine wind farm. The hospital has its own turbine, as does the public school and even the Best Western motel, which has saved 50 percent on its utility bill.

"As far as I know, we are the only hotel in the United States with a wind power generator," said Ron Wright, owner of the Best Western Night Watchman Inn.

The new public school not only has a wind turbine but 97 wells dug 410 feet into the ground for a geothermal heating system that uses the 55-degree water to cool or warm air pumped into the building.

Like those of many buildings in town, the school's windows are sized and positioned to make best use of natural light and the sun's warmth.

The mayor had his house built with small windows on the north and larger ones elsewhere, and he used timber in four- or eight-foot lengths to reduce waste.

City Hall and several other buildings have rooftop solar panels to convert sunshine into electric power. Many homeowners have chosen to build energy-efficient houses.

In building anew, Greensburg used a lot of old materials. Bricks for the walls at city hall came from a power plant the tornado destroyed. The furniture store is made of bricks from the old store. Wood siding at the school came from trees damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

Rain is not wasted. All through town are systems for filtering and capturing rainwater, which is stored in underground cisterns for irrigation when the weather is dry.

Greensburg is building a museum to herald what used to be its biggest claim to fame -- the largest hand-dug well in the world -- but also to tell the story of its green rebirth.

Its slogan is that it is "Stronger. Better. Greener."

The community took advantage of various federal programs to build with sustainability in mind, but it took a spirit of public and private cooperation to be successful, Dixson said.

FEMA provided $80 million in subsidies for construction of city hall, the school and hospital, said Pam Reves, city treasurer. The U.S. Department of Energy and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory provided technical assistance and other guidance on sustainable construction in the public and private sector.

A key player is Greensburg GreenTown, a nonprofit organization that promotes green projects and gives tours. The town boasts the most LEED-certified buildings, a recognized system of measuring green projects, per capita in America.

The visit by officials from Joplin and the communities of Smithville, Miss. and Cordova, Ala., comes on the heels of an earlier visit by a delegation from Tuscaloosa, Ala., heavily damaged by a recent tornado.

Greensburg City Councilwoman Erica Goodman said Greensburg is ready with a message of hope for other communities.

"We can't tell you want to do," Goodman said. "We can only tell you what we have done and hopefully you can take that home and start your recovery."

(Writing and reporting by Kevin Murphy; Editing by Mary Wisniewski and Ellen Wulfhorst)

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