Friday, June 27, 2025
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • Terms & Conditions
Environmental Magazine
Advertisement
  • Home
  • News
  • Climate Change
  • Energy
  • Recycling
  • Air
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Water
No Result
View All Result
Environmental Magazine
  • Home
  • News
  • Climate Change
  • Energy
  • Recycling
  • Air
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Water
No Result
View All Result
Environmental Magazine
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Cooling conjecture: cloud engineering could be more promising than previously believed

April 18, 2024
in News
A A

Cloud ‘engineering’ could be more effective for climate cooling than previously thought, because of the increased cloud cover produced, new research seems to show.

In a study published in Nature Geoscience, researchers 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 (and controversy) in recent years as a way of offsetting the global warming effects believed to be caused by humans and buying some time while the global economy decarbonises. 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.

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 that 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 metre, 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.

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 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 fundamental understanding of aerosol’s impacts on clouds, further research on global impacts and risks of MCB, and search for ways to decarbonise 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.

ShareTweetSharePinSendShare

Related Articles

News

UK government body to deploy innovative robotics to manage radioactive waste

June 27, 2025
News

Squaring the circle: Making sense of the UK Industrial Strategy

June 27, 2025
News

Make electricity cheaper for consumers, says CCC

June 26, 2025
News

Microplastics are everywhere, but our methods to track them are all over the place

June 25, 2025
News

Leeds EfW facility will supply around 390 GWh per year of homegrown power to the region

June 24, 2025
News

Liquid-hydrogen fuelled concept car unveiled at Le Mans

June 20, 2025

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recommended

Battery storage sector warns the system operator is not ready to deliver a grid fit for the future

September 18, 2024

BLM Ends Future Coal Mining on Powder River Basin Federal Lands

May 19, 2024

Don't miss it

Activism

‘Systematically Failed’: Civil Society’s Latest Attempt to Reform UN Climate Talks

June 27, 2025
Fossil Fuels

Trump Joins the Opposition to Vermont’s Climate Superfund Act, Calling it ‘Burdensome’ and ‘Ideologically Motivated’

June 27, 2025
Fossil Fuels

Five Years After Pennsylvania’s Landmark Fracking Report, Its Public Health Goals Remain Largely Unmet, Groups Say

June 26, 2025
Energy

The Revised ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Still Contains a Poison Pill. A Tax Expert Explains

June 26, 2025
Fossil Fuels

Texas Legislature Increases Well Plugging Budget as Backlog Grows

June 25, 2025
Air

Net zero planning platform to unlock investment in the West of England

June 25, 2025
Environmental Magazine

Environmental Magazine, Latest News, Opinions, Analysis Environmental Magazine. Follow us for more news about Enviroment and climate change from all around the world.

Learn more

Sections

  • Activism
  • Air
  • Climate Change
  • Energy
  • Fossil Fuels
  • News
  • Uncategorized
  • Water

Topics

Activism Air Climate Change Energy Fossil Fuels News Uncategorized Water

Recent News

‘Systematically Failed’: Civil Society’s Latest Attempt to Reform UN Climate Talks

June 27, 2025

UK government body to deploy innovative robotics to manage radioactive waste

June 27, 2025

© 2023 Environmental Magazine. All rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Climate Change
  • Energy
  • Recycling
  • Air
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Water

© 2023 Environmental Magazine. All rights reserved.

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.