Grants Pass, OR (PRWEB) November 15, 2013
Changes in atmospheric water content, as a result of warming temperatures and changing climate and precipitation patterns, have significant potential and observed impacts on water-borne disease outbreaks and human health. That was one of the conclusions in a recent White Paper by Climatologist DeWayne Cecil, PhD, for a study team sponsored by Sharon Kleyne’s Bio Logic Aqua Research. “Atmospheric water content” includes both airborne water vapor, also called “humidity,” and precipitation in the form of rain or snow.
The study team’s objective, according to Kleyne and Cecil, is research and education regarding changes in atmospheric water content and their influence on human health. The study team’s intent is to stimulate discussions of the effects of climatic variation with the goal of improving the ability of humans to live with and adapt to a changing atmosphere.
DeWayne Cecil, PhD, has had a distinguished career as a Climatologist in academic, government and private research settings. He has been employed as a researcher for the USGS Water Resources Discipline, the NASA Earth Observation Satellite program, Director of NOAA’a Western Region Climate Services and most recently, Chief Climatologist for Global Science and Technology, Inc. of Ashville, NC.
Sharon Kleyne is Founder of Bio Logic Aqua Research, a fresh water and health research, education and product development center. Nature’s Tears® EyeMist®, the company’s global signature product, provides a pure fresh water mist to instantly replenish the water in dehydrated eyes and skin lost to polluted and dry air. Kleyne also hosts the globally syndicated Sharon Kleyne Hour Power of Water® radio show on VoiceAmerica and Apple iTunes.
According to Dr Cecil, warmer atmospheric temperatures increase the rate of evaporation of surface water, thus increasing the atmosphere’s water vapor content. Contaminants, both in the surface water and in the air, can profoundly effect whether or not the water vapor remains in the air, and whether or not the vapor is able to rises high enough to form clouds, and to fall back to the surface as precipitation. Changes in humidity and weather patterns, and changes in the atmosphere’s contaminant content, can significantly affect human health.
Contaminants on the increase in both surface water and water vapor, says Dr. Cecil, include substances such as heavy metals, sediments and “carbon black” or soot. Carbon black is a “climate forcing agent” that is formed through incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, biofuels and biomass.
According to Sharon Kleyne, carbon black has the ability to attract and accumulate water vapor droplets in the air. Carbon black also has the ability to migrate deeply and dangerously into body tissues when breathed into the lungs.
Kleyne notes that according to the World Health Organization, 2.4 million people per year die from pollution related causes. She also notes that approximately 10% of airborne particulates in the atmosphere are the result of human activities.
Diseases most closely correlated with atmospheric contamination, according to Kleyne, include heart disease, breathing problems such as asthma, COPD and lung cancer, carcinoma and melanoma skin cancers, conjunctivitis and, dehydration diseases such as dry eye, dry skin, adult acne and dermatitis. Susceptibility depends on prior health status and degree of exposure.
The White Paper, “Global variations in precipitation and water vapor with climate change and associated impacts on human health,” is available at http://www.biologicaqua.com/Press_Global_Variations_Precipitation_Water_Vapor_Climate_Change_Associated_Impacts_Human_Health.php