Good transparency: Does it exist?

[janoskiss (Steve H)]

For months I have been waiting for proper clear skies. I don't just mean no clouds, I mean an atmosphere that lets the starlight in, i.e., transparent, CLEAR!

Looking at satellite photos it seems that every night clear or not, as soon as the Sun sets the entire continent gets covered in a haze. As the twilight fades, the haze gets thicker, and hangs around till after sunrise. Here is a gif animation of the IR satellite images for the past 3 days illustrating the point:

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What will it take for us to get a *clear* night? I am sure last winter and spring was not this bad. I remember some brilliant clear nights in August 2005.

[ving (David)]

in one word: not on your nelly....

i crack me up.
hasnt it been bad tho!

[matt]

You are absolutely right on this Steve.

I was having a conversation along the same lines only the other day. It's bad enough that the seeing has been soooooo bad for months, but now there's this strange high-level "fog" that lurks around to ruin things even when it looks like it'll be a nice evening

You can definitely see it on those weather bureau maps.

It's driving me freakin' nuts... Mr Bigglesworth!!!!!!

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Hasn't existed here for a few weeks either. Very unseasonal too. September here is normally the clearest month of the year.......in preparation for the storm season....in preparation for the cyclone season.

[acropolite (Phil)]

Nothing unseasonal about it, I reported the same pollution in this thread. IMO all the pollution we're seeing is a direct result of year round forestry burnoff activity, I suspect the majority of it coming from the "ashtray isle" (Tas). The federal government are subsidising private forestry, from memory to the tune of $4600 per hectare. In Tasmania native forests are being decimated, and farmland is being converted to private forest at an unprecedented rate. We have a constant muddy coloured haze which clears only after heavy rains. There is not a day goes by that burnoffs are not happening and to top it off poison sprays (insecticides) are being used some of which have been banned for decades in other countries, then the growing forests are baited to keep out "grazing" animals. The end result is that the residues of these poisons are ending up in our waterways and the water tastes of burned ash after heavy rains. Add in the remains of whatever rotting dead animals happen to fall in catchment areas. If it's not happening in your area it probably soon will. If you produced this level of pollution from your backyard you would end up in court, but of course forestry is exempt from all environmental laws, at least here in Tas.

[janoskiss (Steve H)]

Thanks Phil. So all we have to do is wait till all of Tassie's forests are gone, and maybe then we can get some clear skies again.

[acropolite (Phil)]

I doubt it Steve, apparently the private forest thing is getting a hold on the mainland as well, I have had reports from tourists that private forestry is alive & growing everywhere. Down here we also have the pleasure of getting a (third world standard chlorine bleaching) pulp mill, that almost no one wants, to further gobble up our native forests. It will consume billions of tons of timber every year, spew pollutants including dioxins into the atmosphere, ground water and Bass Strait. It's water needs are obscene (26 billion litres of water a year), and in this age of water shortages will consume as much water as the cities of Launceston, Burnie and Devonport combined. If you want to read about it here's the government's spin , environmentalists have a different view which can be seen here. The proponents of the pulp mill yesterday announced that they had made an error in stating the dioxin levels, yep they had understated dioxin output levels by a staggering 45 times. With a week to go for public submissions the RPDC (the government body responsible for evaluating and approving the project) have refused to extend the period for public comment despite this serious error in Gunns proposal. The RPDC have in the past made some very questionable decisions leaving some in the legal fraternity wondering whether the law is even relevant in Tasmania. I also hear that SA is also proposing a similar pulp mill.

[janoskiss (Steve H)]

Phil, you're doing a good job of making me depressed.

[acropolite (Phil)]

For any of you that are interested this link will give you a picture of how far smoke can spread. I wondered if all the smoke we experience in Tasmania is somehow responsible for reduced rainfall, based on the assumption that mositure needs some form of particle to condense, but excess particles in the air would cause droplets not to form rather just small amounts of moisture attaching to individual particles rather than clumping as droplets. Well a quick google search has at least confirmed my thoughts, it seems that excess smoke does cause a reduction in rainfall, as well as having an additional greenhouse effect, as detailed in this link.

I really beleve that our evironment is at crisis point, scientific evidence is no longer necessary, just use your powers of observation, think about what's happening and more importantly take some action. In a few more years it may be too late.