scrAPES Week 2
Topic: How Dust Could Solve California's Drought
By: Henry Gass of the Scientific American and ClimateWire
Date: August 14th, 2014
Summary
The lengthy drought plaguing 80% of California has residents raising the question: when are we going to get rain? Scientists believe, however, that dust; yes, dust, could in fact promote precipitation in certain areas. Studies conducted in the city of San Francisco have confirmed that dusty air from Africa and Asia have been changing the rate of precipitation due to the formation of ice crystals in clouds. Since precipitation relies on these ice crystals, clouds will seldom rain if this dust is not present. This research has opened up new ideas to the scientists, by giving them an opportunity to maximize precipitation when droughts occur.
Reflection
I believe that this discovery is very helpful and interesting considering that every day here now is blisteringly hot. If we could harness this discovery and implement it in areas where life depends on agriculture and water, then we could solve many world problems by giving the benefits of precipitation; such as increased crop yield and a decreased mortality rate due to starvation and dehydration, especially in third-world countries. However, as stated in the article, I think a new environmental problem could be made by manipulating the weather in this way.
Edit: It started raining literally an hour after I wrote this wow
By: Henry Gass of the Scientific American and ClimateWire
Date: August 14th, 2014
Summary
The lengthy drought plaguing 80% of California has residents raising the question: when are we going to get rain? Scientists believe, however, that dust; yes, dust, could in fact promote precipitation in certain areas. Studies conducted in the city of San Francisco have confirmed that dusty air from Africa and Asia have been changing the rate of precipitation due to the formation of ice crystals in clouds. Since precipitation relies on these ice crystals, clouds will seldom rain if this dust is not present. This research has opened up new ideas to the scientists, by giving them an opportunity to maximize precipitation when droughts occur.
Reflection
I believe that this discovery is very helpful and interesting considering that every day here now is blisteringly hot. If we could harness this discovery and implement it in areas where life depends on agriculture and water, then we could solve many world problems by giving the benefits of precipitation; such as increased crop yield and a decreased mortality rate due to starvation and dehydration, especially in third-world countries. However, as stated in the article, I think a new environmental problem could be made by manipulating the weather in this way.
Edit: It started raining literally an hour after I wrote this wow