Heat Island Effect

[mempho]

And yes I dothink global warming is a farce as far as liberals would like us to believe anyways and this kind of data can skew things in that direction.

When I read the documents from the the 1940s on the UN site that advocated "climate change" as a good "forcing mechanism" for uniting (and, by that, it quickly became obvious that they really meant "controlling") the world, I quickly became suspicious of what is going on (and I was a believer in this).

I can't believe more people haven't read it and it's sitting right on the UNESCO web site.  It made me want to vomit. 

[ENBP]

I can't believe more people haven't read it and it's sitting right on the UNESCO web site.  It made me want to vomit. 

What documents are you talking about?

[mempho]

What documents are you talking about?

Try the UNESCO "manifesto" (if you will) written by the first head of UNESCO (standing for the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization), Julian Huxley, which has been the genesis of all the scientific bodies setup by the UN.  Called "UNESCO:  Its Purposes and Its Philosophy" and written in 1946 as the "mission statement" for UNESCO, which was established in 1945.

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0006/000681/068197eo.pdf

Starting on page 13 (or 11 in the PDF reader) and unedited (highlights are mine, though):

The moral for Unesco is clear. The task laid upon it of promot-
ing peace and security can never be wholly realised through the
means assigned to it-education,
science and culture. It must
envisage some form of world political unity, whether through a single
world government or otherwise;& the only certain means for avoid-
ing war. However, world political unity is, unfortunately, a remote
ideal, and in any case does not fall within the field of Unesco’s
competence. :gThis does not mean that Unesco cannot do a great
deal towards promoting peace and security./‘Specifically,
in its
educational programme it can stress the ultimate need for world
political unity and familiarise all peoples with the implications of the
transfer of full sovereignty from separate nations to a world organi-
sation. But, more generally, it can do a great deal to lay the
foundations on which world political unity can later be built.
It can help the peoples of the world to mutual understanding and to a
realisation of the common humanity and common tasks which they
share, as opposed to the nationalisms which too often tend to
isolate and separate them.
It can promote enterprises which, by being fully international
from the outset, demonstrate that nationality and nationalism can
be transcended in shared activity. Examples of such enterprises are
the Unesco Centre of Applied Mathematics proposed in the Natural
Science Chapter dealing with the International Reconstruction
Camps, proposed in the Education Chapter as a contribution to
reconstruction, the activities centred round the World Biblio-
graphical and Library Centre and the International Clearing House
for Publications proposed in the section dealing with libraries, the
International Home and Community Planning Institute envisaged
in the Chapter on Social Science, the International Theatre Institute
proposed in that on the Creative Arts, and the production
of internationally-conceived films and radio programmes envisaged
in the Chapter on Mass Media.

Unesco also can and should promote the growth of inter-
national contacts, international organisations, and actual inter-
national achievements, which will offer increasing resistance to the
forces making for division and conflict. In particular, it can both
on its own account and in close relation with other U.N. agencies
such as the F.A.O. and the World Health Organisation, promote
the international application of science to human welfare. As the
benefits of such world-scale collaboration become plain (which will
speedily be the case in relation to the food and health of mankind)
it will become increasingly more difficult for any nation to destroy
them by resorting to isolationism or to war.
In the specific cases of atomic fission, bacteriology and micro-
biology, Unesco can do a great deal by large-scale campaigns of
public education designed to throw into contrast the disastrous
effects of using our knowledge for new warlike purposes, in the
shape of atom bombs and the still greater horrors of “biological
warfare,” and the wonderful opportunities that open out if we use
it for increasing human welfare-by making new sources of energy
available to mankind in general and to certain backward regions
in particular, and by harnessing micro-organisms as the chemical
servants of man, as well as by banishing germ-caused disease. And
since practical demonstration is the best form of education,
Unesco should stimulate to the utmost extent the application of
nuclear physics and of microbiology to peaceful ends.
With all this Unesco must face the fact that nationalism is
still the basis of the political structure of the world, and must be
prepared for the possibility that the forces of disruption and conflict
may score a temporary victory. But even if this should occur,
Unesco must strain every nerve to give a demonstration of the
benefits, spiritual as well as material, to be obtained through a
common pool of tradition, and specifically by international co-
operation in education, science, and culture, so that even should
another war break out, Unesco may survive it, and in any case so
that the world will not forget.

Futher, from (starting on) page 17:

As we have seen earlier, the unifying of traditions in a single
common pool of experience, awareness, and purpose is the necessary
prerequisite for further major progress in human evolution. Accord-
ingly, although political unification in some sort of world government
will be required for the definitive attainment of this stage, unification
in the things of the mind is not only also necessary but can pave the
way for other types of unification.
Thus in the past the great
religions unified the thoughts and attitudes of large regions of the
earth’s surface ; and in recent times science, both directly through
its ideas and indirectly through its applications in shrinking the
globe, has been a powerful factor in directing men’s thoughts to the
possibilities of, and the need for, full world unity.
Special attention should consequently be given by Unesco
to the problem of constructing a unified pool of tradition for the
human species as a whole. This, as indicated elsewhere, must
include the unity-in-variety of the world’s art and culture as well
as the promotion of one single pool of scientific knowledge. But
it must also eventually include a unified common outlook and a
common set of purposes. This will be the latest part of the task of
unifying the world mind ; but Unesco must not neglect it while
engaged on the easier jobs, like that of promoting a single pool of
scientific knowledge and effort.

Huxley went on to found many things promoting the view that we as humans are endangering the environment, including him founding the rather well-known World Wildlife Fund in 1961.  The motive has always been political in nature and, though that, in itself, does not disprove the idea of man-made climate change, it certainly does cast suspicions on what is being presented.  Also, when it became clear during the "Climategate" scandal that scientists were trying to exaggerate supporting evidence while trying to explain or even hide/suppress contrary evidence, it became clear that what was going on was not science in the truest sense as laid out by the scientific method (which clearly implies a pursuit for truth), but instead we were seeing what has generally been perceived as an entirely objective field (science) being used as a tool for the propagation of an idea that is rooted in political and personal motivations for power and the antagonism of any and all who get in their way. 

I am not a denier nor am I a supporter, but when people who fly around in private jets suggest that I should be forced to change my lifestyle while they continue to fly above creation as the lords of all, motives become increasingly important.

Everyone wants to save the world, but no one wants to play the fool. 

[ENBP]

Thanks for the link. I agree with you that Huxley's rhetoric translates very badly to the present, but the central idea wasn't control of individuals by a one world government. Rather, the creepy utopianism was a response to WW2, a catastrophic war that came 20 years after another catastrophic war, and those guys literally feared the nuclear destruction of the entire planet. Preventing WW3 is what international cooperation was about.

You're right, the writing in that document has aged very badly, and can easily be read as a threat to individual freedom (though I don't think that's what the motivation was at all). But I think it's a leap of logic to view UNESCO's founding documents as a blueprint for using climate change science as a means of control of individuals, which seems to be where you're going.

I'd love to discuss this more, but I don't want to hijack this discussion about heat islands! I'll cut and paste this into a thread in the Politics/Sports forum tonight and if you want we can discuss this in a more appropriate forum.

[mempho]

Thanks for the link. I agree with you that Huxley's rhetoric translates very badly to the present, but the central idea wasn't control of individuals by a one world government. Rather, the creepy utopianism was a response to WW2, a catastrophic war that came 20 years after another catastrophic war, and those guys literally feared the nuclear destruction of the entire planet. Preventing WW3 is what international cooperation was about.

You're right, the writing in that document has aged very badly, and can easily be read as a threat to individual freedom (though I don't think that's what the motivation was at all). But I think it's a leap of logic to view UNESCO's founding documents as a blueprint for using climate change science as a means of control of individuals, which seems to be where you're going.

I'd love to discuss this more, but I don't want to hijack this discussion about heat islands! I'll cut and paste this into a thread in the Politics/Sports forum tonight and if you want we can discuss this in a more appropriate forum.

Go ahead if you wish to discuss further. 

[ENBP]

Go ahead if you wish to discuss further. 

Sorry, I meant to do it last night but I got kind of caught up in the Titans game. I'll get to it after supper tonight, as I'm a bit busy with work at the moment.

[bonzomemphis]

CTB -

I live out in Eads/Cordova off Houston Levee and Macon - still a somewhat rural area despite the encroachment of subdivisions, business, etc.

I had business downtown early Saturday morning, and left the house before the sun rose.

I know car thermometers aren't totally reliable, but just to illustrate my point, I'll reference mine (I drive a brand new vehicle, so the digital temp monitor should be fairly close.) When I left the house, I had a reading of 27 degrees. Chilly. Downtown on Front Street 20 minutes later (right before sunrise) it showed 40.

The heat island effect was in full swing. Another interesting note is the wild temperature swings on certain roads. There's a road in a wooded area I like to drive on out near the house, especially during fall and spring, because of the spectacular views it provides. The street remains shaded most of the day, and on some afternoons near sunset, I'll get off the interstate and see a 7-8 degree temperature drop between the exit on 40 and the end of that street. It's really amazing.

It does seem that the heat island effect loses some of its punch the later on in the year you get. Not surprisingly, some of the latent heat from summer/late fall loses its hold, and even though daily sunlight allows warmth to be held in the inner city even on the coldest of days, it doesn't seem to sway as much when you get into Jan/Feb.

[Clay]

If you do that test in the evening, say around 7 or 8 PM, the difference may be be even greater. In addition to cooling off less, urban areas also cool off slower. In Nashville, low laying areas in the burbs can be as much as 20 degrees cooler than Downtown and Midtown during this time. In addition to a heavily developed urban core, the variable terrain makes temps even quirkier here. I can drive a half mile down the road into the area that sits about 100 feet lower and it be 5 or 7 degrees cooler on clear nights.

[Curt]

CTB -

I live out in Eads/Cordova off Houston Levee and Macon - still a somewhat rural area despite the encroachment of subdivisions, business, etc.

I had business downtown early Saturday morning, and left the house before the sun rose.

I know car thermometers aren't totally reliable, but just to illustrate my point, I'll reference mine (I drive a brand new vehicle, so the digital temp monitor should be fairly close.) When I left the house, I had a reading of 27 degrees. Chilly. Downtown on Front Street 20 minutes later (right before sunrise) it showed 40.

The heat island effect was in full swing. Another interesting note is the wild temperature swings on certain roads. There's a road in a wooded area I like to drive on out near the house, especially during fall and spring, because of the spectacular views it provides. The street remains shaded most of the day, and on some afternoons near sunset, I'll get off the interstate and see a 7-8 degree temperature drop between the exit on 40 and the end of that street. It's really amazing.

It does seem that the heat island effect loses some of its punch the later on in the year you get. Not surprisingly, some of the latent heat from summer/late fall loses its hold, and even though daily sunlight allows warmth to be held in the inner city even on the coldest of days, it doesn't seem to sway as much when you get into Jan/Feb.

Funny you should mention this as I have noticed mini-climates within the city and county itself. Collierville Arlington is just like Houston Levee, where the temps really tumble on raditional cooling nights between the 2 suburbs. Living in Arlington, I see nearly a 10 degree drop on these same nights from the city to Arlington. I notice that this time of year, grass in the city is usually green much longer than in the burbs. Most of the eastern burbs have experienced a hard freeze (temps in the mid-upper 20's for several hours), while the city has barely reached freezing.

While nearly all of the UHI effects involve radiational cooling nights, it is interesting to note a slight effect on precip type in some winter events. In a snow event a couple of years ago with temps flirting with freeezing in the city, precip showed up as mixed for an hour until evap cooling caught up with it to match areas of all snow, even further south of town.

Memphis and Nashville by far have the biggest UHI island in the state. TYS (Knoxville, where I am sitting as I type) is far removed the urban Knoxville core, so its not seen here as much. I've never flown in/out of Chattanooga, so not familiar with the airport there. The Jackson airport is similar to TYS, which is well outside the city; there is some serious local cold air drainage there, as its temps are one of the lowest in the state on clear,cold nights. Regardless, there are probably mini-climates almost anywhere the % of pavement increases, holding latent heat. Winds in flat open areas (like KMEM, which also has major overnight ops or the Arkansas/Mississippi delta areas) also tend to not radiate as well. Micro-climates...gotta love it!