London, 19 mar ( EFE).- the thawing of Arctic could cause the emission of methane gas, a threat that worries scientists and a British engineer proposes to avoid through torres refrigerators to make lower the temperature in the region.
Number of scientific studies have attempted to measure the impact on the atmosphere of the release of methane, a gas pollutant and more lasting than carbon dioxide, which is currently trapped in the bottom of the sea and whose bubbles can be seen on the ice that is melting.
In a meeting with members of the British Parliament a few days ago, a team of experts–which included the engineer Emeritus of the University of Edinburgh Stephen Salter – qualified this “planetary emergency” threat.
To prevent this, Salter proposed the construction of a hundred towers refrigerators that emit water marina into the atmosphere, as if from an spray is treated, that he hopes to bring down the temperature, as today told Efe the scientist.
Previously, Salter had already opted for refresh the atmosphere through a system of thought, built on boats, instead now discarded because “the situation is so serious that these boats might require too much time”.
Most suitable for their construction sites would be the Faroe Islands (in the North Atlantic between Scotland, Norway and Iceland) or some other islands in the Bering Strait between Siberia and Alaska.
In summer, these ten-metre towers, and fed with renewable energy, they pulverizarÃan salt water to air currents, that “travel the residue of salt into the interior of the clouds in a few hours”, said the expert.
The process is based on the idea of refreshing the environment through “laundering of the clouds”, i.e. Emit droplets of saltwater to be more white and that they better reflect the rays of the Sun, an effect similar to causing the eruption of a volcano.
In 2011, the Arctic regions recorded the highest temperatures of the last fifty years, between 3 and 4 degrees higher than the annual average, according to data from the Research Institute of the Arctic and Antarctica.
However, what really worries scientists is the reduction of the total mass of the ice, which nowadays is 55 per cent as compared with the average in the years 80 and 90 of the last century.
The use of engineering to maintain the temperature of the Earth under control is a controversial issue among the scientific community, because some experts argue that it could exacerbate the problem.
Salter proposal critics argue that a miscalculation of the size of the drops of water issued would cause the opposite effect to that you want to achieve, i.e. raise more even temperature.
However, Salter is confident that the investigation of different climate models will help to better identify risks.
“None of the potential risks of the towers is as bad as the release of methane”. “What we are trying to do is to return temperatures and ice cover at levels where it used to be, through materials which are already there in large quantities but in different sizes”, defended this engineer.
In addition, “if something unexpected happen, would be able to stop the process and reverse the situation within a few days”, stressed Salter, who has estimated that the towers would amount to an estimated cost of 200,000 pounds (240,000 euros) and that they would be ready and a half years after obtaining this budget. EFE
