Scientists: Injecting sea salt in clouds could solve global warming

BY MyNorthwest.com  on August 21, 2012 @ 10:48 am (Updated: 1:20 pm - 8/21/12 )

cloud-brightening-ship.jpg
A conceptualized image of an unmanned, wind-powered, remotely controlled ship that could be used to implement cloud brightening. (Image by John McNeill) | Zoom
The race to ensure humans don't suffer dinosaur-like extinction is on. For researchers in the Atmospheric Sciences department at the University of Washington, the sooner they can try out their ideas, the better.

Atmospheric physicist Rob Wood, along with 24 other scientists, wrote about a possible experiment to test a concept on a small scale in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.

In simple terms, the group wants to inject sea-salt into clouds. If it worked, it would brighten marine clouds, which in turn, would cool the Earth.

"The idea is if you can put small particles of sea salt into clouds, you can make those clouds brighter. So potentially, it's been suggested as a means for reducing the global temperature," explained Wood.

The test would start by deploying sprayers on a ship or barge to ensure that they can inject enough particles of the targeted size to the appropriate elevation, according to the paper. An airplane equipped with sensors would study the physical and chemical characteristics of the particles and how they disperse.

If there is enough interest, Wood thinks that the project has the ability to be operational in the next five years, but it's key that independent scientists do the work.

"None of us, involved in this think that doing this geoengineering itself is necessarily a good idea, but we feel that it's something we should explore."

The fear is that regardless of the unstudied effects, a private company might continue with the work even if the cons outweigh the pros.

"We stress that there would be no justification for deployment of [marine cloud brightening] unless it was clearly established that no significant adverse consequences would result," wrote the authors of the paper. "There would also need to be an international agreement firmly in favor of such action."

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Comments (37)


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  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    What Global warming?
    August 21, 2012 12:36 pm
    ,
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • fartforce1 wrote...
    "What global warming?"
    August 21, 2012 2:46 pm
    Its been the hottest year on record, highest arctic ice melt rate ever, and the best Re4publicans can do is say, "oh, its not global warming, its climate change!" Sure it is, changing from normal to hotter!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • maplefish wrote...
    LOLOLOL
    August 21, 2012 12:41 pm
    Maybe they come up with a "Time Machine" right after they find a "Unicorn" or possibly a "Mermaid"...BAAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAA!!! How much will Al Gore make off this friggin scam?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • SMarti018 wrote...
    the problem i have with this is...
    August 21, 2012 1:01 pm
    This is a typical American way of thinking... Dont solve the problem thats to difficult, instead of Solving the problem lets put a band aid on it and hope it sticks.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Skyfan wrote...
    SPICE
    August 21, 2012 1:17 pm
    Cool. HEY, I just had an idea. What about we design a suit that takes the water our bodies expend and recycle it into a clean drinking solution. We will have endles water to supply us during global warming. And oh YEA, we can use it to ride these big worms in the desert and party on all the new spices we'll find in the desert too! WHAT? your kidding, it's already been thought of? DANG IT.....
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Ted Bundi wrote...
    Oh man
    August 21, 2012 1:21 pm
    why mess with cycles of the earth? Did cave men start bunches of fires to stave off the ice age?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • 333 wrote...
    science vs idiot bloggers..
    August 21, 2012 1:21 pm
    geez I wonder who's right?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Roark wrote...
    Stupid idea to solve a non-existent problem
    August 21, 2012 1:30 pm
    Spend more time determining if warming is for real instead of trying to fix it. The debate is NOT over and there is plenty of reason to believe there are agendas that are being served by claiming the world is warming. This to me is further proof of this agenda. Looks like make-work for scientists and presidents trying to create "green jobs".
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • sambra27 wrote...
    maplefish
    August 21, 2012 1:34 pm
    You realize that Al Gore doesn't have a copyright on Global Warming, right? The only money he makes off it come from the sale of his documentary, which probably stopped selling quite some time ago. You people also realize this is all conceptual, right? Probably not. Science is all educated guess and test...this is simply an idea with what "could" be a possible outcome. And global warming is taking place, Ha ha, you just need to start thinking about it in more of a logistics sense than a political sense. When did the last trend of peak annual global temperatures occur? Before there were thriving human civilizations? There can be widespread impacts of warming on water levels, crop production, water shortages, storms, etc. Though you may not see the effects in your lifetime, it is important to brainstorm possible solutions to mitigate the issue. It's not like we can put measures into effect that reverse the warming trend...we can only attempt to slow it down.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • KeysAndStops wrote...
    $$$
    August 21, 2012 1:39 pm
    How many millions of dollars have already been wasted on this pedantic idea? Liberal idiots! We can't do anything about global warming. It is what it is. Try throwing money and resources at something legitimate and worthwhile.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • maplefish wrote...
    Sorry sambra
    August 21, 2012 1:45 pm
    But GlobalWarming has been debunked over and over and over. The might be some climate change, but that is part of the natural cycle of the earth. The Earth's weather comes from the Sun. NOT HUMAN BEINGS! The Earth has been here for what, 4-5 BILLION YEARS? We humans, well what 15-20 thousand at the most? I'm against Pollution, but Your PC Feel Good, Hippy, Green BS, is nothing more than a scam perpetuated by Al Gore and few governments around the world trying to extract more and more tax money from it's citizens. It is the Biggest scam ever. If Mother Earth decides to change her temperature we humans will have to adapt, but there will be absolutely NO WAY we WILL Ever control the Mother Nature or her Weather. Go ahead and spend YOUR Money if you believe this stupidity, but keep my money out of it...No go buy some carbon credits...LOL!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • maplefish wrote...
    BTW
    August 21, 2012 1:48 pm
    Remember the HOLE in the OZONE? What ever happened with that? Weren't we all supposed be be roasted by like 1995??? What a bunch of sheep....
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • RonJ wrote...
    What a bunch of
    August 21, 2012 2:29 pm
    malarky to think we can actually control what the earth is going to do or influence it in even the tiniest way. The globe has been both cooler and warmer in the past with no input from us thank you very much. It's going to keep doing what it does no matter what we think or do. All we can do is adapt or die as countless species from the past have learned.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Fabricator wrote...
    I thought it was called "climate change" now??
    August 21, 2012 1:51 pm
    Another proposed boondoggle to be paid for with taxpayer dollars I'm guessing... @ sambra: While Al Gore doesn't have a copyright on 'global warming', he and all of his cronies are in on the ground floor of the carbon exchanges that will make the rich richer at our expense. It's not CO2, it's that SUN!!! Remember that the academics used to think the world was flat too...
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • schneidballs wrote...
    I want to have a warmer earth...
    August 21, 2012 2:18 pm
    The earth has been a lot warmer in the past, and I am tired of the northwest weather...it would be nice a if it were a bit warmer.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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