Email: latham@ucar.edu
Phone: 303-497-8182
Postal Address: P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, CO, 80307-3000
Shipping Address: 3450 Mitchell Lane, Boulder, CO, 80307-3000

Professional Interests

John Latham’s principal current research interests are in the fields of cloud physics, atmospheric electricity and global climate. More specifically, he is working on (1) the glaciation of convective clouds, (2) the electrification of thunderstorms, (3) the relationships between lightning frequency and other thundercloud parameters, and (4) a possible global warming mitigation technique (please see "Research on Global Warming..." section, below) involving controlled enhancement of the reflectivity of maritime stratocumulus clouds. His main collaborators in the above-mentioned research are scientists from UK universities and NASA. His publications on these and related topics can be accessed via the link on this homepage. John Latham is also a published writer (poetry, novel, stories, plays) a brief summary of which activity can be accessed via the link to his literary vita, on this homepage.

Recent Publications

To search my complete list of publications, please see The ESSL Publications Search.

Research on Global Warming Mitigation

John Latham is working with several collaborators (including Prof. Tom Choularton, University of Manchester, UK; Prof. Stephen Salter, University of Edinburgh, UK; and Prof. Mike Smith, University of Leeds, UK) on a proposed geo-engineering technique for global warming mitigation (Latham, 1990 and 2002 , Bower et al. 2006). A detailed account of this work is presented in the three papers linked, above.

The basic principle of the scheme is advertently to increase the droplet number concentration N in maritime stratocumulus clouds, thereby increasing their albedo (reflectivity) for incoming sunlight and also their longevity. This would produce a cooling effect, the magnitude of which could be controlled, and calculations and GCM computations both indicate that its magnitude could be sufficient to balance the warming due to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations resulting from the burning of fossil fuels. It is proposed to increase N by atomizing seawater at the ocean surface (producing copious quantities of droplets of around 1μ in size), and the significant fraction of these which rise into the low-level clouds above would act as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), thereby creating additional droplets and enhancing N. The seawater droplets would probably be disseminated from a fleet of satellite-controlled unmanned vessels, deriving their required energy from wind or wave-power. Control over the degree of planetary cooling could be achieved via albedo measurements linked to a global climate model.

Technological questions regarding the production and dissemination of these particles remain to be resolved. Also, detailed examination of the meteorological and climatological ramifications of this proposed geo-engineering scheme would need to be conducted before justification would exist for its operational deployment. Two advantages of the scheme are that: (1) it is relatively benign, the only raw material being seawater; (2) if the disseminators were switched off, the droplets introduced into the atmosphere would fall back into the oceans within a few days.

Related Documents


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Personal News

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Link to my Literature Vita.