[Environment] from [scientificamerican.com]
[News >Space]
September 22, 2009
Glow Away: NASA Lights Up the East Coast Sky with a Noctilucent Cloud
Physicists launch rocket to create the first faux "night-shining" cloud on the cusp of space
By Carina Storrs
Clouds come in countless shapes, from fluffy cotton candy to wispy lines that streak across the sky, but they are all formed from one simple ingredient—water vapor. In an experiment conducted September 19, scientists created the first artificial, high-atmosphere noctilucent cloud. But rather than water, the cloud formed from dust particles spewed out of a rocket.
The project, led by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Washington, D.C., focused on fabricating a noctilucent cloud, or one that floats at an altitude of 80 to 100 kilometers in the mesosphere (a layer of the atmosphere starting at about 50 kilometers above the surface). Because these clouds block sunlight, they play a part in, and may one day offer a solution to, global warming. Scientists have been able to use radar to track the behavior of natural noctilucent clouds, gleaning their speeds and densities. But studying artificial clouds offers "more of a controlled situation," says Paul Bernhardt, head of the NRL's Plasma Physics Division and leader of the project. "People [who] study the natural clouds, they have to sit there and wait" to come across one in Earth's upper atmosphere.
Scientists at the NRL and the U.S. Department of Defense Space Test Program set out to form and follow noctilucent clouds, as part of the Charged Aerosol Release Experiment (CARE). They built their rocket using 80s-era solid motors handed down from NASA. Then, when conditions were right, as they were on Saturday evening—meaning there were few natural clouds to obscure the view—the team launched their dust delivery system from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
Although most rocket engines leave a trail of debris close to where they are ignited, Bernhardt explains that the group timed the rocket's fourth stage motor to dump 100 kilograms of aluminum oxide dust after it had reached its peak altitude of around 280 kilometers. By knowing the rocket's exact point of release, researchers at stations ranging from Virginia to New Jersey as well as in Bermuda could point their lasers and wide-angle lens cameras at the cloud's birthplace, off the east coast, to study its behavior.
The CARE scientists managed to pursue the dust cloud for 20 minutes Saturday before losing its trail. In this time, they collected terabytes of data in the form of images and radio signals bounced off the cloud. Although Bernhardt says it could be months before all the data is processed, his assessment of the first run is that "we met every success criterion we had."
Bernhardt is already thinking of how the group will design future cloud-making launches. For one, because noctilucent clouds are usually found at higher latitudes, he thinks that sending a rocket into the atmosphere above Alaska or Norway would give a better idea of these clouds' natural behavior, and perhaps allow researchers to follow one for a longer period. If so, residents in northern latitudes could be treated to quite a show during the next experiment. When light from the setting sun bounced off the CARE dust particles on Saturday evening, some residents in regions ranging from New Jersey to Massachusetts bore witness to "a series of spooky lights."
[Greenwire > Climatology]
September 22, 2009
U.S. Unveils New Rule Requiring Greenhouse Gas Reporting
The new registry will track emissions from all major industrial sources in the country
By Robin Bravender
U.S. EPA today finalized a nationwide system to require large sources of greenhouse gases to report their emissions.
The new rule will require about 10,000 facilities that emit about 85 percent of the nation's greenhouse gases to begin to collect emissions data under a new reporting system, EPA said. Suppliers of fossil fuels and industrial greenhouse gases, motor vehicle and engine manufacturers and other facilities that emit 25,000 metric tons or more of carbon dioxide equivalent will be subject to the new requirements.
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson called the new rule a major step forward in efforts to address the heat-trapping gases.
"For the first time, we begin collecting data from the largest facilities in this country, ones that account for approximately 85 percent of the total U.S. emissions," Jackson said in a statement. "The American public, and industry itself, will finally gain critically important knowledge and with this information we can determine how best to reduce those emissions."
Most small businesses would fall below the 25,000-metric-ton threshold, EPA said, and would not be required to report their emissions. The only agricultural sources that are required to report their emissions are manure management systems at livestock operations where greenhouse gas emissions meet or exceed the 25,000-ton limit. About 100 livestock operations meet that threshold, EPA said.
Facilities are required to begin collecting emissions data on Jan. 1, 2010, and the first emissions reports will be due in March 2011. EPA will verify the data and will not require third-party verification. Prior to EPA verification, the facilities will be required to self-certify their data.
Many industry groups expressed concerns that EPA's draft rule, released in March, would impose significant costs and regulatory burdens. The American Petroleum Institute and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce were among the groups that criticized the agency's draft regulations. Representatives from those groups were not immediately available to comment on the final rule.
Environmentalists applauded the new regulation, which is widely viewed as a major step toward informing future policy decisions on carbon dioxide regulations.
"The public has both a need and a right to know about the country's biggest emitters," said Mark MacLeod, director of special projects at Environmental Defense Fund. "The transparency provided today will inform smart policy that targets the biggest sources of heat-trapping emissions."
Said David Bookbinder, chief climate counsel at the Sierra Club, "I think it shows they're continuing to move along, and they've got a bunch of rules that they've got to get done."
Bookbinder said that the suite of greenhouse gas regulations pending at EPA could give the Obama administration some leverage in upcoming climate change negotiations.
President Obama touted the new reporting rule today at a U.N. climate change summit in New York. "I am proud to say that the United States has done more to promote clean energy and reduce carbon pollution in the last eight months than at any other time in our history," he said, citing the reporting rule as one of the administration's achievements on that front.
White House clears GHG proposals
The White House yesterday finished its review of two draft regulations that are part of the suite of climate regulations expected to soon be proposed by EPA.
The Office of Management and Budget has cleared the agency's greenhouse gas "tailoring" rule, as well as its reconsideration of a George W. Bush administration policy on regulating emissions from coal-fired power plants.
The "tailoring rule" is expected to limit strict permitting requirements to industrial sources of more than 25,000 tons a year of carbon dioxide equivalent.
The White House also cleared a proposal that is expected to detail the Obama administration's reconsideration of the "Johnson memo," a document issued by former EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson asserting that the government should not regulate carbon dioxide emissions from new coal-fired power plants.
EPA has not yet released the text of the proposals.
[News >Space]
September 22, 2009
Glow Away: NASA Lights Up the East Coast Sky with a Noctilucent Cloud
Physicists launch rocket to create the first faux "night-shining" cloud on the cusp of space
By Carina Storrs
Clouds come in countless shapes, from fluffy cotton candy to wispy lines that streak across the sky, but they are all formed from one simple ingredient—water vapor. In an experiment conducted September 19, scientists created the first artificial, high-atmosphere noctilucent cloud. But rather than water, the cloud formed from dust particles spewed out of a rocket.
The project, led by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Washington, D.C., focused on fabricating a noctilucent cloud, or one that floats at an altitude of 80 to 100 kilometers in the mesosphere (a layer of the atmosphere starting at about 50 kilometers above the surface). Because these clouds block sunlight, they play a part in, and may one day offer a solution to, global warming. Scientists have been able to use radar to track the behavior of natural noctilucent clouds, gleaning their speeds and densities. But studying artificial clouds offers "more of a controlled situation," says Paul Bernhardt, head of the NRL's Plasma Physics Division and leader of the project. "People [who] study the natural clouds, they have to sit there and wait" to come across one in Earth's upper atmosphere.
Scientists at the NRL and the U.S. Department of Defense Space Test Program set out to form and follow noctilucent clouds, as part of the Charged Aerosol Release Experiment (CARE). They built their rocket using 80s-era solid motors handed down from NASA. Then, when conditions were right, as they were on Saturday evening—meaning there were few natural clouds to obscure the view—the team launched their dust delivery system from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
Although most rocket engines leave a trail of debris close to where they are ignited, Bernhardt explains that the group timed the rocket's fourth stage motor to dump 100 kilograms of aluminum oxide dust after it had reached its peak altitude of around 280 kilometers. By knowing the rocket's exact point of release, researchers at stations ranging from Virginia to New Jersey as well as in Bermuda could point their lasers and wide-angle lens cameras at the cloud's birthplace, off the east coast, to study its behavior.
The CARE scientists managed to pursue the dust cloud for 20 minutes Saturday before losing its trail. In this time, they collected terabytes of data in the form of images and radio signals bounced off the cloud. Although Bernhardt says it could be months before all the data is processed, his assessment of the first run is that "we met every success criterion we had."
Bernhardt is already thinking of how the group will design future cloud-making launches. For one, because noctilucent clouds are usually found at higher latitudes, he thinks that sending a rocket into the atmosphere above Alaska or Norway would give a better idea of these clouds' natural behavior, and perhaps allow researchers to follow one for a longer period. If so, residents in northern latitudes could be treated to quite a show during the next experiment. When light from the setting sun bounced off the CARE dust particles on Saturday evening, some residents in regions ranging from New Jersey to Massachusetts bore witness to "a series of spooky lights."
[Greenwire > Climatology]
September 22, 2009
U.S. Unveils New Rule Requiring Greenhouse Gas Reporting
The new registry will track emissions from all major industrial sources in the country
By Robin Bravender
U.S. EPA today finalized a nationwide system to require large sources of greenhouse gases to report their emissions.
The new rule will require about 10,000 facilities that emit about 85 percent of the nation's greenhouse gases to begin to collect emissions data under a new reporting system, EPA said. Suppliers of fossil fuels and industrial greenhouse gases, motor vehicle and engine manufacturers and other facilities that emit 25,000 metric tons or more of carbon dioxide equivalent will be subject to the new requirements.
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson called the new rule a major step forward in efforts to address the heat-trapping gases.
"For the first time, we begin collecting data from the largest facilities in this country, ones that account for approximately 85 percent of the total U.S. emissions," Jackson said in a statement. "The American public, and industry itself, will finally gain critically important knowledge and with this information we can determine how best to reduce those emissions."
Most small businesses would fall below the 25,000-metric-ton threshold, EPA said, and would not be required to report their emissions. The only agricultural sources that are required to report their emissions are manure management systems at livestock operations where greenhouse gas emissions meet or exceed the 25,000-ton limit. About 100 livestock operations meet that threshold, EPA said.
Facilities are required to begin collecting emissions data on Jan. 1, 2010, and the first emissions reports will be due in March 2011. EPA will verify the data and will not require third-party verification. Prior to EPA verification, the facilities will be required to self-certify their data.
Many industry groups expressed concerns that EPA's draft rule, released in March, would impose significant costs and regulatory burdens. The American Petroleum Institute and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce were among the groups that criticized the agency's draft regulations. Representatives from those groups were not immediately available to comment on the final rule.
Environmentalists applauded the new regulation, which is widely viewed as a major step toward informing future policy decisions on carbon dioxide regulations.
"The public has both a need and a right to know about the country's biggest emitters," said Mark MacLeod, director of special projects at Environmental Defense Fund. "The transparency provided today will inform smart policy that targets the biggest sources of heat-trapping emissions."
Said David Bookbinder, chief climate counsel at the Sierra Club, "I think it shows they're continuing to move along, and they've got a bunch of rules that they've got to get done."
Bookbinder said that the suite of greenhouse gas regulations pending at EPA could give the Obama administration some leverage in upcoming climate change negotiations.
President Obama touted the new reporting rule today at a U.N. climate change summit in New York. "I am proud to say that the United States has done more to promote clean energy and reduce carbon pollution in the last eight months than at any other time in our history," he said, citing the reporting rule as one of the administration's achievements on that front.
White House clears GHG proposals
The White House yesterday finished its review of two draft regulations that are part of the suite of climate regulations expected to soon be proposed by EPA.
The Office of Management and Budget has cleared the agency's greenhouse gas "tailoring" rule, as well as its reconsideration of a George W. Bush administration policy on regulating emissions from coal-fired power plants.
The "tailoring rule" is expected to limit strict permitting requirements to industrial sources of more than 25,000 tons a year of carbon dioxide equivalent.
The White House also cleared a proposal that is expected to detail the Obama administration's reconsideration of the "Johnson memo," a document issued by former EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson asserting that the government should not regulate carbon dioxide emissions from new coal-fired power plants.
EPA has not yet released the text of the proposals.
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