Undersea eruption filled atmosphere with water – Science – AAAS(science.org)
science.org
Undersea eruption filled atmosphere with water – Science – AAAS
https://www.science.org/content/article/massive-undersea-eruption-filled-atmosphere-water
13 comments
At the stratosphere's temperatures, water usually turns liquid or solid and rains off. Why isn't this the case here?
That is a good question, and the answer is not simple. A necessary conditions for water vapour in a given air-parcel to condense out is that relative humidity should be 100%, or the less known concept of a dew-point temperature is the same as ambient stratospheric temperature.
In other words, it is possible that H2O vapour concentration did not reach saturation levels at the given air temperatures (stratosphere). However, due to passage of waves through that region it could, locally, trigger condensation. However, the actual micro-physics of having enough condensation nuclei, the physics of growth and falling of micro-dropplets, and large scale circulation and winds complicates to estimate the actual time scale of residence against condensation.
Even the original article does not try to touch any of these aspects, rather create a 'narrative' without any quantitative (even back of envelope) estimates. But one has to appreciate that 145 Tg of water injected into the stratosphere in a single episodic release is mind-blowing number.
In other words, it is possible that H2O vapour concentration did not reach saturation levels at the given air temperatures (stratosphere). However, due to passage of waves through that region it could, locally, trigger condensation. However, the actual micro-physics of having enough condensation nuclei, the physics of growth and falling of micro-dropplets, and large scale circulation and winds complicates to estimate the actual time scale of residence against condensation.
Even the original article does not try to touch any of these aspects, rather create a 'narrative' without any quantitative (even back of envelope) estimates. But one has to appreciate that 145 Tg of water injected into the stratosphere in a single episodic release is mind-blowing number.
Given enough precipitation, couldn’t you deplete the particles necessary for nucleation?
So much rain that the sky runs out of dust ...
There is apparently a kind of bacteria that can cloud seed. I don't recall how it gets up into the air, but it has some biochemistry that increases the dew point by a few degrees celcius, and then rides the rain back to the ground.
We may find that seeding the stratosphere with one of these bacteria, especially if this happens again when we are farther down the Climate Change rabbit hole, is more ecologically sound than stuffing aerosols up there.
We may find that seeding the stratosphere with one of these bacteria, especially if this happens again when we are farther down the Climate Change rabbit hole, is more ecologically sound than stuffing aerosols up there.
slowhand09(1)
Seems the likely result of this could be atmospheric systems getting a boost in energy & dynamics in ways that would lead to both more severe weather and increased precipitation in certain storms. It also might make some storms harder to predict.
Be warned water may also harm your immunological system by means of cleanliness.
All that newly displaced ocean decreased the altitude; now your brains are starved of oxygen.