This is according to a joint study by Israeli scientists from Tel Aviv University, the Weizmann Institute, and the Open University, which relies, among other things, on data from NASA's TERRA satellite
A joint study by Israeli scientists from Tel Aviv University, the Weizmann Institute, and the Open University reveals that the lightning storms that occur over the jungles in the Amazon are very sensitive to the smoke that rises from the initiated forest fires that occur in the dry season in this region.
As you know, every year vast areas of the tropical forest are cleared in favor of agricultural areas, and this by slash and burn. The plumes of smoke rising high remain in the atmosphere for a long time, and influence the development of clouds, which are essential for raining water on the area.
The new study combined observations of cloud cover in the Amazon region of Brazil from NASA's Terra satellite, together with lightning rate and density data captured by the WWLLN global detector system (33 sensors, including in Tel Aviv).
Prof. Colin Price from Tel Aviv University, and Dr. Orit Altretz and Dr. Ilan Koren from the Weizmann Institute, in collaboration with Prof. Yoav Yair from the Open University, found that at low concentrations of smoke, there is a large vertical development of the clouds and they produce ice and water in large quantities that encourage Electric charge separation and lightning activity.
Beyond a certain critical concentration of the smoke from the fires in the air, the trend reverses and the smoke "suffocates" the clouds and they fail to grow to a high enough height, and therefore do not produce lightning. Combining these two independent databases - from space and from Earth - is an interesting innovation that points to an important microphysical effect.
The article was published on April 1, 2010 in the prestigious Geophysical Research Letters.
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Abi, did you mean revolution...?? Because that's what people who call themselves atheists like "science".
Thanks Ram.
A. As you understand I wasn't really interviewed. We interviewed at most the article I wrote (or even two articles, you have to read in depth and I'm tired now)
B. We didn't give credit to the science website so that people wouldn't come in here and learn something, God forbid, about evolution....
I would be happy to scan the entire article, my email address editor@hayadan.org.il
We need to delve into the issue - what to do with it next.
Maybe it's not related to this specific news, but it's certainly related to the environment and ecology..
Last week there was an article about the eruption of the volcano in Iceland in the Yad Na'am newspaper.
And Avi Bilzovsky's explanation was quoted there word for word...
Here is a link to watch: http://www.siz.co.il/my.php?i=mzdwwdyjzey2.jpg
It seems a little strange to me that the editor's words are quoted in the newspaper like a faithful peg...
Destroy the Earth, the Amazon rainforest will become the Sahara desert.