OSM24: Setting the PACE: Scientists ready to investigate oceans with new NASA satellite
"NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite launched into orbit earlier this month... it will use the vantage point of space to study microscopic life in the oceans & microscopic particles in the atmosphere" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8MdphxqhQA#PACE#Plankton#Aerosols#OSM24
Back to today, '#airborne transmission of pathogens has been vastly underappreciated, mostly because of insufficient understanding about airborne behaviour of #aerosols, and because of the misattribution of anecdotal observations'. @linseymarr et al. @NCBI https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8721651/
Douglas Worsnop: Atmospheric Aerosol Chemistry: Climate and Air Quality
"Despite much effort in the past decades, uncertainties in both climate impacts and health effects of atmospheric aerosols remain large...." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcEerGZlNaA#Aerosols
Media should ask public health how measles virus transmits
With all the attention on #measles#outbreaks recently, the media should ask public health how the measles #virus can catch a ride in #aerosols to help it stay #airborne for hours and infect people but somehow no other virus like #COVID or #respiratory viruses (#Flu, #RSV) can use the exact same transportation method and fall to the ground. 🤔🧵 1/
Although just published today, this is from Feb-March 2021, 7 months before the very first #omicron that was more infectious & 12-16 months prior to super infectious BA.5
So… my guess is, one can get enough infectious dose with 1-2 inhales. We are truly down to mere seconds #viralDose
& nearly nobody cares
Yeah, I’m not waiting for science studies for confirmation of what I’ve already known for years now
This graphic shows the globally averaged temperature of every day since 1958
Because most of the earth's land mass is in the northern hemisphere, you can see the widening of the (northern) summer season, both starting earlier and ending later in the year
You can see the insane heat this past summer.
I think of this graph when I see how green the trees are where I live, in mid October.
"#Aerosols act like a “shade” to incoming sunlight, reflecting it back into space.
“We’ve been reducing [aerosol] emissions, which is good for #AirQuality, but it means now the #CarbonDioxide signal can punch through,” Professor Collins said."
Side note: Those aerosols are a form of #GeoEngineering. And #AirPollution causes the premature deaths of six million people worldwide every year. Is that kind of geo-engineering worth it?
"#AirPollution, a global scourge that kills millions of people a year, is shielding us from the full force of the sun. Getting rid of it will accelerate #ClimateChange.
One proposal called "#SolarRadiationManagement" envisions deliberately injecting sulphur #aerosols into the atmosphere to cool temperatures. But many scientists worry that the approach could unleash unintended consequences.
A more mainstream plan is to curb #methane emissions. "
All planetary boundaries mapped out for the first time, six of nine crossed
"- Human activity affects the Earth’s climate and ecosystems more than ever which risks the stability of the entire planet
For the first time ever all nine planetary boundaries have been assessed
Here, 2 examples of what it is known as aerosol-cloud interactions.
Low level volcanic activity in Mt Saunders in the S. Atlantic provide cloud seeds (i.e. #aerosols or gases that form cloud droplets).
When these are ingested into a cloud, it can become brighter (because it has more droplets and they reflect more radiation) or it could dissipate via rain and entrainment of dry air.
Examples like these are really useful to tease out what drives a cloud's evolution (meteorology or aerosols)
Next week, #NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies turns 60, and we are celebrating our anniversary with some retrospective talks on our history… and forward thinking talks about our future.
I have been appointed to present “History and Future of #Climate Modeling”, so I’ve been interviewing many GISS alumni.
The back-stories to the published development are fascinating.
I’ve asked my boss to get a film maker to document these oral histories better. It would make a great documentary imho.
From the CDC… "People with #flu can spread it to others. Most experts think that flu viruses spread mainly by droplets made when people with flu cough, sneeze, or talk. These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby (usually within about 6 feet away) or possibly be inhaled into the lungs. Less often, a person might get flu by touching a surface or object that has flu virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes."
"Droplets" is the important word above. The above "model" was used early on for #COVID19 transmission (when there were no data), but is now understood to be mostly thru #Aerosols. Particle size is the difference. With the former there is a role for your hands to move the contagion to your mouth & nose. With the latter you just have to breath. 😨
You know those "dimming the sun" #GeoEngineering proposals?
We're ALREADY doing that.
"One the one hand, cutting #FossilFuel pollution is necessary for avoiding severe destruction over the long term. But such cuts will make the earth much hotter in the short term.
For all the damage they do to human lungs, #aerosols also help shade the earth by scattering light from the sun that would otherwise warm the planet."