(meteorobs) Fwd: "meteor smoke" is essential to the formation of noctilucent clouds.

[jason utas]

Hello Richard, All,
While not a regular poster on this list, I'd like to summarize this
off-topic issue.

atmosphere + methane = warmer (proven fact based on properties of methane)

People make methane and release it in higher amounts than it would
otherwise be present (I think we can all accept this as fact).  This
causes warming (see above).

As you point out, the stratospheric breakdown of methane creates CO2
and H2O vapor.  You also go on to say that "The resulting increased
stratospheric water vapor levels at lower latitudes is offered as the
reason noctilucent clouds are appearing at increasingly lower
latitudes than reported historically."  Let's assume that this is
true.  I haven't looked into this and don't know enough to refute it.

So...people release methane.  This methane causes global warming as a
byproduct.  Another byproduct of the methane is the increased
concentration of CO2 and H20 in the stratosphere, which creates
noctilucent clouds.

I fail to see how these topics are not connected.  The increased
concentration of methane causes both the increasing observations of
noctilucent clouds -- and global warming.

This stands to reason.  Very few geologic or natural biologic
processes could drive the atmospheric changes necessary to make
observable changes in cloud patterns on a human timescale.* Right now,
all of the evidence points towards us.

Regards,
Jason

*One of the few exceptions occurred at the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal
Maximum, and we still don't know what caused that.  But, you can rest
assured that we'd figure out what was causing such a massive and rapid
release of biogenic/light carbon if it happened today.

P.S. Regardless of whether humans are responsible for global warming
(though most evidence seems to agree that we are responsible), we
should probably do what we can to keep it from happening.  Climate
change will drive changes in local and regional weather cycles that
will adversely affect local flora and fauna/inhabitants (e.g. the
expansion of the Sahara Desert).  While not "bad" from an abstract
perspective, the new weather patterns can be dangerous.   Warmer
winters and agricultural production in the Pacific Northwest are
balanced by (even) colder winters in the Midwest/Northeast, and
decreased production there.  While claims of globally more extreme
weather events may be debatable, sea-level rise is not.  It will claim
much of Oceania and Indonesia, and millions will be slowly displaced
or die in the storms that will drive shorelines inland.  In general,
change is hard and/or expensive to accommodate; one must move, adapt,
or die.



On Mon, Aug 6, 2012 at 8:47 PM, Richard Kramer <kramer at sria.com> wrote:
> At 07:40 PM 8/6/2012, you wrote:
>>Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas and is estimated to be responsible for
>>approximately one-fifth of man-made global warming. Per kilogram, it is 25
>>times more powerful than carbon dioxide over a 100-year time horizon .
>
> OK, so how does this make climate change responsible for noctilucent
> clouds at lower latitudes?
>
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