An experiment starting next month in the U.K. will pump water one kilometer into the air to test a new climate-cooling method ...
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=uk-researchers-to-test-artificial-volcano-for-geoengineering-the-climate
danbaron
15-09-2011, 23:10
Here is what I have noticed this year.
I live in the desert, 60 miles northeast of Los Angeles.
Usually, in the summer it is dry as a bone, here.
But, this summer, many days there have been thunderstorms in the afternoon.
The first possible reason that comes to my mind, is global warming (the increase in the average temperature of the atmosphere).
As the atmosphere heats up, more water evaporates from the ocean and enters it.
That water will not stay in the atmosphere forever, it comes back down in the form of rain or snow.
I never really thought much about the phenomenon of monsoons.
I guess that in the region near the equator, during the summer, there are huge downpours of rain in the afternoon (almost like clockwork).
As the atmosphere becomes hotter, I expect that the monsoon region will spread farther north and south of the equator (and, I can't imagine what will happen near the equator).
And, because the severity of storms is completely (as far as I am aware) due to the temperature of the atmosphere (hot air = severe storms), I expect flash floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes, to increase in severity and frequency, as global warming increases.
:p