I was watching an episode of Nova on global dimming. The process in which particle pollutants are put into the air and block out the sun so light can't hit the ground. One result of this is water evaporates at a slower rate.

 

This is where my thoughts come in. What if global warming is a result of global dimming. Because water is evaporating less this causes means less cooling of the air near the surface of the earth. The heat energy from the sun is still being absorbed by the earth just in the atmosphere from particle pollutants rather than the surface where water can evaporate to cool the earth.

 

This is of course just an idea of mine. I don't have much knowledge about global warming and global dimming and the mechanisms behind them. I do believe my reasoning is good but am not sure if there any data that will disprove this idea.

 

I know there is a correlation between CO2 and atmosphere temperature but I have not seen any sort of information that would indicate the direction of causation. I want to hear your thoughts and maybe shed a little more light on this idea.

Try watching this (all three parts are pretty cool... slightly different focus, but answer many of the questions you ask):

 

http://www.abc.net.au/science/crude/

Try watching this (all three parts are pretty cool... slightly different focus, but answer many of the questions you ask):

 

http://www.abc.net.au/science/crude/

 

Can't get any of the videos to play smoothly. They do look interesting, I will try them again later.

You can also get some good physics lectures from this site:

 

http://webcast.berkeley.edu/course_details.php?seriesid=1906978515

 

 

 

Below is one about Global Warming and the Greenhouse effect (it's like sitting in on a Berkeley lecture right from your computer):

 

http://webcast.berkeley.edu/stream.php?type=real&webcastid=21955

 

 

 

There's also this short 3min thing if that's more your style:

 

 

 

Or...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XDhuDEWSu4

 

 

 

EDIT: If that first link to Berkeley doesn't work for you (or, if you don't have Real Player) you can catch it on YouTube at the following playlist:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyuKOtIryis&feature=PlayList&p=0C2FA8A9E3BB59FF&index=0&playnext=1

 

FYI - That last link I edited in... parts 5 & 6 are closest to your original question. Enjoy.

Edited August 9, 200817 yr by iNow