[meteorite-list] Are Falling Ice Balls A Product of Global Warming?

From: Kevin Fly Hill <khill_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:17:43 2004
Message-ID: <001801c3bf75$d43dbac0$6d00a8c0_at_coxinternet.com>

Down Here in Texas we call that "medium" sized hail. Nutn' much to
worrywith since the ol' tin roof patches pretty easy (when ya finely get
'roun' toit), jus sorta hard on the cotton crop.

Fly Hill

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron Baalke" <baalke_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>
To: "Meteorite Mailing List" <meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2003 11:32 AM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Are Falling Ice Balls A Product of Global Warming?


>
>
> http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/03344/249503.stm
>
> Are falling ice balls a product of global warming?
> By Michael Woods
> Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
> December 10, 2003
>
> BARCELONA, Spain -- A Spanish-American scientific team will be scanning
the United
> States this winter for what might be one of the weirdest byproducts of
global warming: great
> balls of ice that fall from the sky.
>
> The baffling phenomenon was first detected in Spain three years ago and
has since been
> reported in a number of other countries, including the United States. So
scientists now plan to
> monitor in a systematic way what they call "megacryometeors" -- or great
balls of ice that
> fall from the sky.
>
> "I'm not worried that a block of ice may fall on your head," said Dr.
Jesus Martinez-Frias of
> the Center for Astrobiology in Madrid. "I'm worried that great blocks of
ice are forming where
> they shouldn't exist."
>
> Ice balls, which generally weigh 25 to 35 pounds but can be much bigger,
have punched holes
> in the roofs of houses, smashed through car windshields, and whizzed right
past people's
> heads.
>
> Incidents like those may be just the beginning, according to Dr. David
Travis, who chairs the
> department of geography and geology at the University of
Wisconsin-Whitewater.
>
> "If megacryometeor formation is linked to global warming, as we suspect,
then it is fair to
> assume that these events may increase in the future," Travis said.
>
> Martinez-Frias pioneered research on megacryometeors in January 2000,
after ice chunks
> weighing up to 6.6 pounds rained on Spain for 10 days.
>
> At first, scientists thought the phenomenon was unique to Spain. During
the past three years,
> however, they've accumulated strong evidence that megacryometeors are
falling all around
> the globe.
>
> More than 50 falls have been confirmed, and researchers believe that's a
small fraction of the
> actual number, since others may hit unoccupied areas or melt before
discovery.
>
> Travis said most megacrymeteor falls occur in January, February and March.
>
> Researchers were able to analyze ice samples from the 2000 incidents,
thanks to witnesses
> who kept the material cold. Martinez's team quickly ruled out obvious
explanations.
>
> The ice balls, for instance, were not frozen water from toilets flushed on
jetliners. The ice
> contained no human waste and none of the blue disinfectant used in
airplane toilets. Air traffic
> control records showed that no planes flew over the areas near the ice
falls, so the ice had not
> been shed from aircraft wings.
>
> Chunks of debris from a comet? Again, lab tests showed that ice in
megacryometeors had the
> distinctive chemical signature of ice in ordinary terrestrial hailstones.
>
> Hail forms in the updrafts and downdrafts of thunderstorms. The updrafts
carry droplets of
> super-cooled water, which freeze. More droplets hit the frozen particles
as winds toss them
> around. The water freezes instantly and the hailstone grows, layer by
layer.
>
> Most hailstones weigh a fraction of an ounce, with 27 ounces the U. S.
record.
>
> Megacryometeors show the telltale onionskin layering seen in hailstones.
They also contain
> dust particles and air pockets found in hail. But they are formed in
cloudless skies, a notion
> that defies research on hail formation.
>
> "Scientists are naturally reluctant to say something never can happen,"
said Charles Knight,
> a hail expert at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research in
Boulder, Colo. "But
> oh, dear. I would be tempted to say 'never' on this."
>
> Knight has reviewed scientific papers on megacryometeors, and thinks the
explanation that
> cites unusual atmospheric conditions possibly linked to global warming, is
probably wrong,
> although he doesn't have a better one.
>
> Global warming involves higher temperatures on Earth's surface, but
creates colder
> conditions in the stratosphere, the uppermost layer of the atmosphere,
according to Travis.
>
> He has linked megacryometeor events to unusual conditions in the
"tropopause," the
> boundary between the troposphere (the lower atmosphere) and the
stratosphere. Located 5
> to 9 miles above the surface, the tropopause marks the limit of clouds and
is important in the
> development of storms.
>
> Global warming may be making the tropopause colder, moister and more
turbulent, Travis
> said, creating conditions in which ice crystals grow like ordinary
hailstones in thunderclouds.
>
> (Michael Woods can be reached at mwoods_at_nationalpress.com or
1-202-662-7072.)
>
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Received on Wed 10 Dec 2003 06:25:16 PM PST