Recent findings indicate that marine cloud brightening, a method of increasing cloud cover to cool the Earth, could be more effective than previous models suggested, offering significant cooling effects but serving as a temporary mitigation rather than a solution to global warming.
New research suggests that cloud “engineering” might be more effective at cooling the climate than previously believed, due to the production of increased cloud cover.
In a study published in Nature Geoscience, researchers at the University of Birmingham found that marine cloud brightening (MCB), also known as marine cloud engineering, works primarily by increasing the amount of cloud cover, accounting for 60-90% of the cooling effect.
Previous models used to estimate the cooling effects of MCB have focused on the ability of aerosol injection to produce a brightening effect on the cloud, which in turn increases the amount of sunlight reflected back into space.
The practice of MCB has attracted much attention in recent years as a way of offsetting the global warming effects caused by humans and buying some time while the global economy decarbonizes. It works by spraying tiny particles, or aerosols, into the atmosphere where they mix with clouds and with the primary aim of increasing the amount of sunlight that clouds can reflect.
Practical Applications and Research Challenges
Experiments with the technique are already being used in Australia in an attempt to reduce bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef. However, the ways in which MCB creates a cooling effect, and the ways in which clouds will respond to aerosols, are still poorly understood, because of variable effects such as the confounding from co-varying meteorological conditions.
To investigate the phenomenon, the researchers created a ‘natural experiment’, using aerosol injection from the effusive eruption of Kilauea volcano in Hawaii to study the interactions between these natural aerosols, clouds, and climate.
Using machine learning and historic satellite and meteorological data, the team created a predictor to show how the cloud would behave during periods when the volcano was inactive. This predictor enabled them to identify clearly the impacts on the clouds that had been directly caused by the volcanic aerosols.
They were able to show that the cloud cover relatively increased by up to 50% during the periods of volcanic activity, producing a cooling effect of up to -10 W m-2 regionally. Global heating and cooling is measured in watts per square meter, with a negative figure indicating cooling. Note that doubling CO2 would lead to a warming effect of +3.7 W m-2 approximately on a global average.
Collaborative Efforts and Implications of Research
The research was carried out in collaboration with the Met Office, the Universities of Edinburgh, Reading and Leeds, ETH Zurich in Switzerland, and the University of Maryland and NASA in the USA.
Lead author, Dr Ying Chen, of the University of Birmingham, said: “Our findings show that marine cloud brightening could be more effective as a climate intervention than climate models have suggested previously. Of course, while it could be useful, MCB does not address the underlying causes of global warming from greenhouse gases produced by human activity. It should therefore be regarded as a ‘painkiller’, rather than a solution, and we must continue to improve our fundamental understanding of aerosol’s impacts on clouds, further research on global impacts and risks of MCB, and search for ways to decarbonize human activities.”
The research comes alongside increased interest in cloud engineering around the globe. UK Research and Innovation has recently launched a £10.5m research programme looking at informing policymakers on solar radiation management approaches, including MCB, while the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA), is focused on researching technologies for climate and weather management. In the USA, a team from the University of Washington recently carried out its first outdoor aerosol experiment from a decommissioned aircraft carrier in Alameda, California.
Reference: “Substantial cooling effect from aerosol-induced increase in tropical marine cloud cover” by Ying Chen, Jim Haywood, Yu Wang, Florent Malavelle, George Jordan, Amy Peace, Daniel G. Partridge, Nayeong Cho, Lazaros Oreopoulos, Daniel Grosvenor, Paul Field, Richard P. Allan and Ulrike Lohmann, 11 April 2024, Nature Geoscience.
DOI: 10.1038/s41561-024-01427-z
There are far more people who die from the cold than from heat. It is a far different risk to actually implement an experiment to test the CO2 warming hypothesis than to have an academic debate about it. If the CO2 impact is negligible, there is a risk of cooling more than expected, or wanted.
Some people uncritically say that “Exxon knew” decades ago. What they are really saying is that some academics hypothesized that increasing CO2 would result in warming. However, there was no agreement on the slope of the warming curve. It is critical that we know, with great accuracy, just how much the net average temperature changes for a given change in all the forcing factors. This isn’t a video game that one resets and starts over with if the guesses are wrong. Human lives, indeed modern civilization, is on the line here, driven by the ego of people who think that they have all the answers.
Before even considering implementing an experiment with existential risks, it is important that we answer the question, “What is the optimal average temperature for Earth?”
I reviewed your comments. Temperature is the only important issue in planets for life, and oxygen and water are all important elements for life in a planet that is far from a suitable star and other conditions are also important. You should know that if ten billions of years ago, if the planet earth was next to the sun, life would never have arisen on earth. The planet earth has not been next to the sun 100% in the past, because of all the excellent substances that are in oxygen, if the seeds that are important for the growth of seedlings and plants in Let’s set the high temperature to 100 degrees and plant it in the ground after heating, will they bear fruit??? If the earth was located next to the sun since the birth of the sun, life would never have appeared on the earth. I know that in the past the radius of the sun passed through the orbit of Mercury, and if at that time the radius of the sun was much, much larger than this time, if the earth It was next to the sun, no life could have arisen in it. At least tens of billions of years before the big arms of the galaxy, the earth joined the solar bodies.thank you spenser doctor mehrdad aghakasiri sahebzaman
Without addressing your facts, your logic is flawed. Regardless of the distance from the sun, Earth was originally molten. Thus, no life could have originally existed on Earth. It was necessary for Earth to cool sufficiently for rocks to form and water to condense out. The time was a function of distance from the sun and the output of the sun. Then, whatever the amount of time, there was an opportunity for life to begin and evolve. Plant seeds weren’t available in the beginning.
Question, To compare the amount of oxygen consumed in a aspirated engine have a effect on the balance of carbon and other gases in the atmusfear and does the plant life create enough oxygen to stay ahead of human consumption.
You are right, in the beginning it was possible for the earth to be molten, but you should know if this possibility existed and life was formed from the burnt materials. You should know that the earth was an exceptional planet. It was exceptional. They are born next to a star, and when a big nebula cloud that contains hydrogen gas and other gases forms a star, in the center of all the stars, there is a heavy metal dust that has a heavier mass. It is made up of dust and gas, but the most common material of this giant nebula is hydrogen, but because hydrogen is light, it is not placed in the center of the star’s core. During the formation of stars, heavier elements form a very, very compact core, which is made of heavy metals. It is basically formed by the engine of a star that is being born and causes the engine of the stars to turn on. There are elements that are unknown to scientists. There are various types of hard metals in the space. In the satellites, which are made of dust, dust, and gas, when the action and The reactivity of the core of a star increased, when they are activated in the core of volcanoes, at that time, it is the time of the formation of planets, due to the intense explosions of the core of the stars, intense volcanoes, which take place, the molten material, which is made up of highly ferrous metals, travels around at a speed of hundreds of thousands of kilometers. The cores of the stars are placed, and basically these materials make the core of a planet to form around the stars, but was the earth the same, or not? Tens of billions of years ago, the earth was next to a star in the arm of the galaxy that we call that star. that the earth was located next to the first star of the arm of the galaxy, we call it the star of life and the sun, we call it the star of survival. Before the earth was next to the star of life, the star of survival was next to the sun. Earth has existed next to the star of life
I mean the names I gave are nicknames, as I said the earth was not originally next to the star of life and survival, it was next to another star that was 30 miles away in the milky way. For example, we say that the name of that star is the star of life and the name of sun is the name of life. I want to say that the earth was not next to the sun at the beginning of the formation of the sun, but on the other side of the galaxy. If I said that the solar system was next to the sun from the beginning of its formation, life would never have arisen. Seeds, seeds and pollen of excellent materials can no longer be fertilized in the heat. If you want, you can give a seed and plant a percentage of the temperature. And become a tree, it is possible
What we meant was that whenever the seeds of plants and fruit trees and plants after high heat will never turn into plants and fruit trees, and like the planets of all the stars are formed next to the star from the beginning of the formation of the core, but the earth has gone through the vital stages that It is very complex and has experienced several stages of life in more than a few big stars and only in the last hours of its life it was next to the sun and before it was next to other stars.
I have to explain something about the text above. I already said that I always check the text that I am translating from Persian to Latin. Sometimes, it happens very rarely when translating, the spelling and composition and dictation of the text in some sentences. The words are moved and confused, but I think that you scientists and researchers will understand the author’s intention and understand the content. This problem does not always occur, but we are trying to fix it. Of course, artificial intelligence is very effective for us and I can translate easily. I do my dictation and spelling, even sometimes it is better. In conclusion, I am very satisfied with the administrators of this great site, and I would like to thank and appreciate you for showing my opinions. Have a good day ahead. I must appear and I am the special representative of God and the Lords of the Earth, and I said before that with hundreds of signs in the holy books that matched the numbers of the verses, the date of birth and the age of 46 years and the 89th solar year were chosen by God and the Lords of the Earth with the first verse of the Qur’an. which are the last numbers, i.e. the last single digit numbers which are 89 and God explained in verse 89 that I have a book and eight surahs were revealed to me in solar years 89, 90 and 91 and I explained about the end of time. Refer to the following address and I explained about the destruction of human life who lived with dinosaurs tens of millions of years ago, that when the arm of the Milky Way collides with the Sun and solar bodies, the stars and very small planets of the Milky Way enter the solar system and cause renewal and The life of the earth is intensified, that is why the second letter of the word “planet” is renewed or intensified. The letter 32 is in Persian and 32 is related to evolution and the repetition of tragedy and the destruction of civilization and the re-formation of civilization. Now that we have reached the end of time on Earth, and the sun is colliding with the Milky Way arm at a high speed, it is possible that the light arms of the galaxy will collide with the sun and its objects at a high speed, but most of the time, no collisions have occurred, these collisions are mostly with gas planets. taken like Saturn and Jupiter. God willing, you will be victorious in all stages of yourlife
I am the owner of time with dozens of signs in the earth and time and in the holy books, but I am not an imam
But most of these collisions of the large arms of the galaxy have happened with gas planets