[SunkenCiv]

Yeah, there’s a topic around here about that I think... [sound of some drawers opening and closing), ah here we go:

Small Comets and Our Origins
University of Iowa | circa 1999 | Louis A. Frank
Posted on 10/19/2004 11:13:25 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/1250694/posts

[colorado tanker]

This is a narrative of an intense debate about the findings of a startlingly large influx of small comets into our atmosphere. This debate is now thirteen years old and is characterized by numerous emotional and intellectual statements to be found in both the scientific literature and the popular press. If the small comets exist, then fundamentally new insight into such questions as the origins of our oceans, of the influx of organic material from space, and, indeed, of our own origins is gained. The scientific debate is very much alive.

There is nothing greatly objectionable about the presence of small comets or to the above impact scenario. The objections are directed toward the numbers, the numbers of such objects required to explain the yearly rates of atmospheric holes. A yearly rate of 1 to 10 events in our atmosphere would be generally accepted by the scientific community, 10 to 100 events might be forgiven, but a thousand such impacts raise considerable outcries on the basis of "current wisdom". The proposed rate of 10 million small comets impacting our atmosphere each year was generally greeted with scorn and ridicule. Remarkably, at this rate over the age of Earth, the small comets can provide enough water to fill our oceans.

Interesting stuff.