Quote:
Originally Posted by aerohead
1) The pure white powder snow phase of water has the highest reflective index ( albedo) as any natural surface. For any solar radiation falling on it, it reflects about 82.5% back to space, and absorbs 17.5%.
2) Global warming is such that, temperatures even at 18,600-feet elevation are warm enough to melt powder snow.
3) When the snow melts, and then re-freezes at night, it becomes an ice phase of water, with a reflective index of only 73%, absorbing 54.28% more energy.
This difference in heat absorption is equivalent to reducing Earth's orbital distance from the Sun to, 74,841,296-miles. 18.1-million miles closer to the Sun.
4) When all the ice melts, leaving exposed rock, the reflective index falls to around 62.5%, absorbing 37.5% of solar energy. The difference in absorbed solar radiation is equivalent to further reducing Earth's orbit to 63,504,954-miles, which places Earth 'inside' the orbit of Venus. 29,455,045-miles closer to the Sun.
This isn't a 'future' scenario. This is happening right now. This is what Andrew Glickson referred to as our greatest threat, as this is exactly what drove some of the greatest past mass-extinction events in Earth's geological record.
5) There's around 4300- billion tons of Methane stored in the permafrost and ocean floor clathrates.
6) Methane is a greenhouse gas which is 27-times more powerful than carbon-dioxide.
7) Releasing 4300-gigatons of methane is equivalent to releasing 116,100-gigatons of carbon dioxide.
8) 11,610,000,000,000-pound of carbon-dioxide.
9) 11.6-trillion pounds of carbon dioxide.
10) Earth will heat more and faster than ever in Earth's geologic record.
11) It can't be engineered for.
12) All the wealth on Earth wouldn't scratch the surface of the cost.
So, that's what's unfolding.
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I'm going to need sources for #3 and #4 because they don't seem reasonable from a quick math check. Snow turning into ice and being less reflective is equivalent to moving the earth 19% closer to the sun? Keep in mind this doesn't mean the earth would receive 19% more of the sun's rays, but much more than that because the energy from the sun falls away non-linearly with distance (square of the distance).
Venus receives twice the sunlight as Earth. I find it highly improbable that simply melting all snow away would increase temperature as if there was twice the amount of sunlight.
Snow only covers 12% of Earth's surface and mostly at the poles (where sunlight hardly hits anyhow), so this small thing isn't likely to have the affect claimed here.
Smells like BS, but I appreciate numbers so that we can evaluate the veracity.
*As an aside, these absurd, intentionally deceptive, apocalyptic claims are exactly why people not only avoid joining the Green Religion, but are actively antagonistic against it. If these false prophets piped down, the Green Religion might actually appeal to a broader audience, or at least not be ridiculed so much.