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NASA Could Bring a Roo Awakening on Climate Change
by Teresa Herrmann - Jun 1st, 2008
There seems to be a lot of excitement over the massive, 105-foot-long space-roo that's landed in suburban Melbourne.
NASA's using the white cardboard cut-out to bounce sunlight back into space as part of a new climate change experiment.
But why exactly?
Because the space agency's satellite photographs of the paper roo will help scientists measure the Earth's "albedo" -- or its ability to reflect sunlight into space.
A low albedo could spell climate disaster.
Here's how it works.
As a rule, Earth's whitest and most reflective surfaces -- snow, ice and clouds -- reflect heat, a lot of it. The planet's darker areas, on the other hand -- like oceans and forests -- absorb heat. (Example: White snow has an albedo of 90 percent, while the albedo of black charcoal is just four percent.)
Now, as polar ice caps melt into the sea, dark water surfaces are born that absorb more heat, which then triggers ice caps to melt at even faster rates.
And that's the biggest concern of all: that the albedo effect is quickening the pace of climate change.
Hence the roo.
And the other white cardboard cut-outs NASA has planted for photographing in the US, France, Belgium, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Israel, Wales and Singapore. All of which are designed to gauge how serious albedo's contribution to climate change could be.
Bets are that NASA's newest results add to the overwhelming pile of evidence for a drastic -- and immediate -- global climate fix.
Source: The Age
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