Mountains, Whitecaps Change Weather Models
May 10 -- What do the tallest mountains in the world have in common with whitecaps on a roiling sea?
Both, it turns out, have a far greater impact on global weather patterns than had been thought.
Two separate international teams of scientists have come up with evidence showing the majestic Himalayan Mountains can influence weather all over the Earth, and whitecaps on a wind-blown sea can reflect so much solar energy back into space that the entire climate system is altered.
Himalayas Contributed to Dust Storms
Scientists have known for a long time that the Himalayas have a dramatic impact on local weather patterns in Asia, but the latest research shows the impact is global in scale, and may even have precipitated the beginning of the ice age 2.5 million years ago.
And whitecaps have generally been left out of most computer models for global climate, because their effect was thought to be minimal, but the latest research will probably force scientists to remodel their models.
What it all adds up to is this: The Earth's climate is so complex, and subject to such wide reaching influences, that it's nearly impossible to comprehend it. Little wonder that meteorologists have trouble predicting the next day's weather, not to mention the long range impact of burning fossil fuel.
The Himalayas, it turns out, contributed to storms that carried dust from China and Mongolia's Gobi Desert to the United States last month, as I reported in a recent column. Even more important, that desert wouldn't even be there if it weren't for the mountains to the south.
That story is, quite literally, written in the sands of the desert, according to climatologist John E. Kutzbach of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who returned to China this week to resume his research. Kutzbach, a member of an international research team, has been arguing for more than a decade now that the uplifting of mountain ranges has a profound impact on weather, and now, he says, he has the data to prove it.
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