May 10, 2018
Does the Magnetic Field Cause Climate Change?
Timothy Birdnow
Global Warming has been one of the hot topics of the last thirty years, and the Aviary has been on the cutting edge of this science. I'm always on the lookout for arcane and unusual stories that might tie in with warming theory, and this one certainly does not disappoint.
From the article: "When chilled below 0 degrees Celsius, water molecules start forming ice crystals wherever there are minerals or other solids suspended in the water—what are known as nucleation sites. Completely pure water, lacking nucleation sites, can be chilled well below the usual freezing point and yet remain a liquid—a process called supercooling."
[...]
"When you supercool water before freezing it, the resulting ice doesn't expand as much in volume as regular ice because it takes on a different crystalline structure. If you are freezing tissues, which have water in them, less expansion means less damage to cells," Kobayashi says. The process also offers scientific advantages. As an electron microscopist, Kobayashi often has to freeze biological tissues before generating images of them. One of her major goals has been finding ways to freeze biological tissue while minimizing damage caused by ice crystal formation."
End excerpt.
See, if water is pure enough it can cool to a much lower temperature than water that has impurities. The impure water forms ice crystals.
But if you have magnetite - a biological compound that occurs in many single-cell organisms - a magnetic field can have the same effect as ultrapure water and can lead to supercooling.
"Reasoning that any slight disruption at the surface of the magnetite should disrupt this process and prevent freezing, they next designed a series of experiments using rotating magnetic fields about 20 times stronger than the earth's magnetic field—strong enough to jiggle the magnetite molecules. By keeping the magnetite molecules in constant motion, they prevented ice from forming on their surface and were able to supercool magnetite-impregnated water almost as well as ultrapure water. This even worked in two representative types of tissue: celery (for vegetables) and cow muscle (for meats). By jiggling the magnetite molecules in the cells of the plant and animal tissues, they were able to supercool them and ultimately freeze them with less damage to the tissues."
End excerpt.
Now, living organisms can produce magnetite, and while magnetite breaks down under oxidative pressure it does just fine inside of living things. Birds use them to help navigate, for instance. Amd volcanism puts considerable quantities in the atmosphere as small particles (which generally break down as a result of exposure to oxygen). This got me to wondering.
Wikipedia makes this point about one of the uses of magnetite:
"One use is in water purification: in high gradient magnetic separation, magnetite nanoparticles introduced into contaminated water will bind to the suspended particles (solids, bacteria, or plankton, for example) and settle to the bottom of the fluid, allowing the contaminants to be removed"
End excerpt.
It should also be pointed out that magnetic industrial wastes find their way into the atmosphere as well. According to a paper in Nature entitled Anthropogenic iron oxide aerosols enhance atmospheric heating:
"We demonstrate that in addition to carbonaceous aerosols the aggregate of magnetite nanoparticles is a significant anthropogenic contributor to shortwave atmospheric heating."
[...]
"In this study, in situ aircraft measurements using a modified single-particle soot photometer (SP2)25 and electron microscopy are performed to show that anthropogenic FeOx particles, particularly aggregated magnetite nanoparticles, are ubiquitous in the continental outflows from East Asia. We then evaluate their contribution to atmospheric shortwave absorption on the basis of the observed size-resolved mass concentrations and particle morphologies. Our results indicate that the absorption by anthropogenic FeOx is at least 4–7% of the BC absorption over East Asia."
End excerpts.
"We found that the FeOx number concentration in the dry PBL air was highly correlated with the CO mixing ratio (r2=0.87) and BC number concentration (r2=0.69; Fig. 3a,b, respectively)"
[...]
"The two most important conclusions drawn from these observations are as follows. First, the FeOx particles detected using the modified SP2, with the exception of the dust-like FeOx, are primarily aggregated magnetite nanoparticles of anthropogenic origin. Second, the anthropogenic magnetite is a major type of Fe-bearing aerosol in East Asian continental outflow."
End excerpts.
The paper goes on to show how these ferrous iron particulates lead to greater shortwave absorption in clear skies. For example:
"In addition to clear-sky shortwave absorption, we briefly discuss some other potential climate effects of anthropogenic FeOx particles. Low stratiform clouds are of frequent climatological occurrences over the mid- to high-latitude ocean and southeast China32. Under modest maximum supersaturation in such clouds, particle’s mass fraction activated to cloud droplets will be substantially larger for FeOx than BC, because the critical supersaturations of FeOx-containing aerosols will be lower than those of BC due to the larger Dm. Under these situations, Pabs(FeOx)/Pabs(BC) is enhanced because the lensing effect in droplets33 is larger for FeOx than for BC. We expect that the number of co-emitted cloud condensation nuclei and their precursor gases in anthropogenic FeOx-rich sources, which remain uncertain, are substantially different from those in anthropogenic BC- and BrC-rich sources such as residential coal, industrial coal and biomass fuels7. Thus, without comprehensive investigations, it is not clear whether the net positive climate forcing of anthropogenic FeOx-rich sources is negligible or comparable with those of BC- and BrC-rich sources. Finally, it should be mentioned that the anthropogenic FeOx particles may also play a role in the biogeochemical cycles34."
End excerpt.
Two points to ponder here; first, the particulate matter will decay rather rabidly once exposed to oxygen and it is likely to remain in the lower atmosphere, at least this anthropogenic source. While human activity may be increasing this affect, it is hardly the five alarm fire the global warming crowd invests in carbon dioxide.
Bear in mind, too, that iron is one of the most common elements in the Earth and all manner of ferric compounds are released as volatiles from volcanic activity.
But it does make me wonder; the Earth's magnetic field has been weakening for the last 160 years, five percent or so every decade. Scientists think the field is going to flip, reversing the north and south magnetic poles.
Researchers studying the South Atlantic Anomaly had this to say:
"The researchers discovered that the magnetic field in the region fluctuated from 400-450 AD, from 700-750 AD, and again from 1225-1550 AD. This South Atlantic Anomaly, therefore, is the most recent display of a recurring phenomenon in Earth's core beneath Africa that then affects the entire globe."
End excerpt.
Tantalizing, no? The Roman Warming Period ended in 400, for example, and the Medieval Warming Period lasted from 950 to 1250, thus that warming period ended with the third fluctuation. Obviously the correlation ends there; there doesn't seem to have been any major climatic change in the 700's.
Well, actually no. A graph of planetary temperatures from proxy data suggests there WAS a warming period generated around this time, but it apparently crapped out.Any number of things could kill a warm up - or a cool down. We don't know enough.
So, to reach the point of this rather lengthy essay; is Global Warming, that fraction of a degree increase we've seen over the last 30 years, a result of fluctuations in the Earth's magnetic field leading to changes in ice crystallization in the atmosphere and thus changing the way energy is absorbed and reflected? A more variable magnetic field would help to move magnetic particles about, and perhaps lead to supercooling in the atmosphere, while a weaker field would lead to greater ice crystallization, and the lensing effect, perhaps. Or does this lead to an increase in planetary albedo and a cooling effect?
Read more on albedo effects here.
The reality is, we don't even understand the role of clouds or water vapor to climate, much less such a complex mechanism as this. Yet the Gang Green confidently predicts thermogeddon based on two dimensional models created nearly forty years ago.
One thing is certain; the notion that carbon dioxide is the sole driver of climate is hogwash.
Global Warming has been one of the hot topics of the last thirty years, and the Aviary has been on the cutting edge of this science. I'm always on the lookout for arcane and unusual stories that might tie in with warming theory, and this one certainly does not disappoint.
From the article: "When chilled below 0 degrees Celsius, water molecules start forming ice crystals wherever there are minerals or other solids suspended in the water—what are known as nucleation sites. Completely pure water, lacking nucleation sites, can be chilled well below the usual freezing point and yet remain a liquid—a process called supercooling."
[...]
"When you supercool water before freezing it, the resulting ice doesn't expand as much in volume as regular ice because it takes on a different crystalline structure. If you are freezing tissues, which have water in them, less expansion means less damage to cells," Kobayashi says. The process also offers scientific advantages. As an electron microscopist, Kobayashi often has to freeze biological tissues before generating images of them. One of her major goals has been finding ways to freeze biological tissue while minimizing damage caused by ice crystal formation."
End excerpt.
See, if water is pure enough it can cool to a much lower temperature than water that has impurities. The impure water forms ice crystals.
But if you have magnetite - a biological compound that occurs in many single-cell organisms - a magnetic field can have the same effect as ultrapure water and can lead to supercooling.
"Reasoning that any slight disruption at the surface of the magnetite should disrupt this process and prevent freezing, they next designed a series of experiments using rotating magnetic fields about 20 times stronger than the earth's magnetic field—strong enough to jiggle the magnetite molecules. By keeping the magnetite molecules in constant motion, they prevented ice from forming on their surface and were able to supercool magnetite-impregnated water almost as well as ultrapure water. This even worked in two representative types of tissue: celery (for vegetables) and cow muscle (for meats). By jiggling the magnetite molecules in the cells of the plant and animal tissues, they were able to supercool them and ultimately freeze them with less damage to the tissues."
End excerpt.
Now, living organisms can produce magnetite, and while magnetite breaks down under oxidative pressure it does just fine inside of living things. Birds use them to help navigate, for instance. Amd volcanism puts considerable quantities in the atmosphere as small particles (which generally break down as a result of exposure to oxygen). This got me to wondering.
Wikipedia makes this point about one of the uses of magnetite:
"One use is in water purification: in high gradient magnetic separation, magnetite nanoparticles introduced into contaminated water will bind to the suspended particles (solids, bacteria, or plankton, for example) and settle to the bottom of the fluid, allowing the contaminants to be removed"
End excerpt.
It should also be pointed out that magnetic industrial wastes find their way into the atmosphere as well. According to a paper in Nature entitled Anthropogenic iron oxide aerosols enhance atmospheric heating:
"We demonstrate that in addition to carbonaceous aerosols the aggregate of magnetite nanoparticles is a significant anthropogenic contributor to shortwave atmospheric heating."
[...]
"In this study, in situ aircraft measurements using a modified single-particle soot photometer (SP2)25 and electron microscopy are performed to show that anthropogenic FeOx particles, particularly aggregated magnetite nanoparticles, are ubiquitous in the continental outflows from East Asia. We then evaluate their contribution to atmospheric shortwave absorption on the basis of the observed size-resolved mass concentrations and particle morphologies. Our results indicate that the absorption by anthropogenic FeOx is at least 4–7% of the BC absorption over East Asia."
End excerpts.
"We found that the FeOx number concentration in the dry PBL air was highly correlated with the CO mixing ratio (r2=0.87) and BC number concentration (r2=0.69; Fig. 3a,b, respectively)"
[...]
"The two most important conclusions drawn from these observations are as follows. First, the FeOx particles detected using the modified SP2, with the exception of the dust-like FeOx, are primarily aggregated magnetite nanoparticles of anthropogenic origin. Second, the anthropogenic magnetite is a major type of Fe-bearing aerosol in East Asian continental outflow."
End excerpts.
The paper goes on to show how these ferrous iron particulates lead to greater shortwave absorption in clear skies. For example:
"In addition to clear-sky shortwave absorption, we briefly discuss some other potential climate effects of anthropogenic FeOx particles. Low stratiform clouds are of frequent climatological occurrences over the mid- to high-latitude ocean and southeast China32. Under modest maximum supersaturation in such clouds, particle’s mass fraction activated to cloud droplets will be substantially larger for FeOx than BC, because the critical supersaturations of FeOx-containing aerosols will be lower than those of BC due to the larger Dm. Under these situations, Pabs(FeOx)/Pabs(BC) is enhanced because the lensing effect in droplets33 is larger for FeOx than for BC. We expect that the number of co-emitted cloud condensation nuclei and their precursor gases in anthropogenic FeOx-rich sources, which remain uncertain, are substantially different from those in anthropogenic BC- and BrC-rich sources such as residential coal, industrial coal and biomass fuels7. Thus, without comprehensive investigations, it is not clear whether the net positive climate forcing of anthropogenic FeOx-rich sources is negligible or comparable with those of BC- and BrC-rich sources. Finally, it should be mentioned that the anthropogenic FeOx particles may also play a role in the biogeochemical cycles34."
End excerpt.
Two points to ponder here; first, the particulate matter will decay rather rabidly once exposed to oxygen and it is likely to remain in the lower atmosphere, at least this anthropogenic source. While human activity may be increasing this affect, it is hardly the five alarm fire the global warming crowd invests in carbon dioxide.
Bear in mind, too, that iron is one of the most common elements in the Earth and all manner of ferric compounds are released as volatiles from volcanic activity.
But it does make me wonder; the Earth's magnetic field has been weakening for the last 160 years, five percent or so every decade. Scientists think the field is going to flip, reversing the north and south magnetic poles.
Researchers studying the South Atlantic Anomaly had this to say:
"The researchers discovered that the magnetic field in the region fluctuated from 400-450 AD, from 700-750 AD, and again from 1225-1550 AD. This South Atlantic Anomaly, therefore, is the most recent display of a recurring phenomenon in Earth's core beneath Africa that then affects the entire globe."
End excerpt.
Tantalizing, no? The Roman Warming Period ended in 400, for example, and the Medieval Warming Period lasted from 950 to 1250, thus that warming period ended with the third fluctuation. Obviously the correlation ends there; there doesn't seem to have been any major climatic change in the 700's.
Well, actually no. A graph of planetary temperatures from proxy data suggests there WAS a warming period generated around this time, but it apparently crapped out.Any number of things could kill a warm up - or a cool down. We don't know enough.
So, to reach the point of this rather lengthy essay; is Global Warming, that fraction of a degree increase we've seen over the last 30 years, a result of fluctuations in the Earth's magnetic field leading to changes in ice crystallization in the atmosphere and thus changing the way energy is absorbed and reflected? A more variable magnetic field would help to move magnetic particles about, and perhaps lead to supercooling in the atmosphere, while a weaker field would lead to greater ice crystallization, and the lensing effect, perhaps. Or does this lead to an increase in planetary albedo and a cooling effect?
Read more on albedo effects here.
The reality is, we don't even understand the role of clouds or water vapor to climate, much less such a complex mechanism as this. Yet the Gang Green confidently predicts thermogeddon based on two dimensional models created nearly forty years ago.
One thing is certain; the notion that carbon dioxide is the sole driver of climate is hogwash.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
09:20 AM
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