Comment Re:How does that work (Score 1) 492
"It does seem like evaporating water outside the tropics would be more effective," Caldeira said. Some complications related to releasing huge amounts of water into the air are not well understood, however. Among the side-effects: It absorbs latent heat near the earth's surface and transports it to higher altitudes, for a cooling effect. When it condenses at higher altitudes, it releases the latent heat, which then can radiate into space, producing more cooling. It's a greenhouse gas, trapping heat and causing warming. It can form low clouds that reflect solar energy, a cooling effect. It can form more high clouds, which block some sunlight but mostly prevent the release of infrared radiation from below, another warming effect.
yup. It really isn't just that simple, even in this cursory analysis. So, it could backfire horribly, and isn't a terribly well conceived idea in the first place. Perhaps instead of harebrained schemes to combat this problem, we could just quit abusing the planet?
