Researchers are exploring the idea of using ships to spray seawater high into the sky, creating clouds that reflect sunlight, thereby helping to combat global warming. However, this concept raises concerns about the potential risks of a government using weather modification technology for political purposes.
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Atmospheric physicist Rob Wood from the University of Washington (USA) is calling on the scientific community to explore the potential of creating artificial clouds to combat climate change.
In an article published in this month’s issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Wood described how to conduct experiments to test this idea. He also detailed which type of ship would be best suited for spraying seawater into the sky, the optimal size of the water droplets, and the potential climatic impacts.
Researchers believe that using ships to spray seawater into the sky could create large clouds that reflect sunlight, helping to combat climate change. (Photo: Corbis)
According to Daily Mail, the idea Wood is pursuing is based on the theory of “marine cloud brightening.” This theory suggests that adding particles, in this case, seawater salt, to the atmosphere above the ocean will help form larger and more durable clouds.
As we know, clouds form when water condenses around particles. Since the amount of water in the air is quite limited, adding more particles will create more droplets, but smaller ones.
Wood emphasized: “We found that a larger number of smaller droplets will create a greater surface area, meaning that the clouds formed will reflect more sunlight back into space.” This would provide a cooling effect on Earth.
The theory of “marine cloud brightening” is just one part of a broader concept known as “geoengineering,” which encompasses efforts to use technology to manipulate the environment.
Like other geoengineering proposals, the production of artificial clouds from seawater also raises ethical and political concerns as well as uncertainties about its actual impacts.
However, Wood dismisses these concerns as reasons not to investigate this idea. He asserts that conducting experiments will expand our understanding of how particles, such as pollutants, affect the climate, despite the primary goal still being to test the idea of combating climate change through the generation of artificial clouds from seawater.
If successful, the technique of “marine cloud brightening” could be the most immediate and cost-effective solution to climate change available today.
