Does whitewashing a mountain restore snow?

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A whitewashed surface will absorb less solar infared energy, so will remain cooler...
 
Greg Bernhardt said:
A village in Peru whitewashes a mountain to restore snow. What do you think? Crazy or might it work?
http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_c3#/video/world/2011/11/28/romo-peru-glacier-whitewash.cnn

I think someone should build a railway between Peru and Connecticut.

Connecticut gets lots of snow I've found out today.

(ps. my vote is on crazy... but it did spark in my mind a reason why a bunch of Egyptians a few years back would want to build artificial mountains clad in white limestone...)
 
Interesting! :smile:

I vote that it might work.
(Perhaps this thread should be a poll?)

If it works, the question would be how much they would have to whitewash.
And whether a reversal would start growing.
 
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So a coating of Calcium hydroxide, chalk and soap? Just what do these guys think these poor folks wil do with the alkaline soapy water - bathe in it? I saw no consideration of the environmental impact Ignorant western dilletantes playing at science. Oh well - only 500 folks left and maybe they're getting paid to pollute their mountain.
 
The video won't appear here. So I can't verify the story.
Anyway, there has been a lot of white washing going on but that probably may have ended with very recent devellopments.

Anyway, you can attempt to lower albedo and decrease absorption, cooling the surface, but ultimately you need moisture to get snow and mountains tend to be cold enough already. So what about the moisture source?