Monday, February 08, 2021

I will tell you how complicated Earth is...

...in 2017, Professor Darryn W. Waugh, of John Hopkins University, discussed the effect of "Rossby Waves" on climate. Rossby Waves are planetary waves. No one discusses Rossby Waves in relation to climate. There are few that study these planetary waves and as of 2017, the Rossby Wave became a climate issue. Not that it causes the climate crisis, just that it is still another element in Earth's climate balance. Do you want to wipe out Rossby Waves and then go "oops?" I don't want to wipe out Rossby Waves and no one else should either!

To say this is complicated is grossly understating the dynamics at work. It is far easier to get rid of the petroleum industry (which remains difficult to convince that their lives are at risk) than to attempt human manipulations of climate. Where did humans get the arrogance to think everything they did, especially emissions of greenhouse gases, was okay? It is not okay. Absolutely not okay.

In particular, (click here) Professor Waugh’s simulations allowed him to examine the characteristics of Rossby waves – north-south meanders in the polar vortex caused by variations in topography, oceanic heating and other factors. When these Rossby waves ‘break’, they can result in vortex stripping, where a long filament of air separates from the main body of the vortex, moves south and mixes with the warmer air.

The team showed a strong agreement between their observations and simulations of vortex stripping, and published their findings in the Journal of Geophysical Research in 1994. In this work, the simulations were matched with NASA highaltitude observation flights, where stripped vortex filaments were found. These filaments were detected using equipment that measured temperature variations and the concentrations of multiple chemical ‘tracers’ occurring naturally in the atmosphere. These tracer compounds are present in diferent concentrations inside and outside polar vortex air, and provide a signature of vortex filaments....