{"id":46232,"date":"2024-04-11T14:27:08","date_gmt":"2024-04-11T13:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/?p=46232"},"modified":"2024-04-11T14:27:08","modified_gmt":"2024-04-11T13:27:08","slug":"cloud-engineering-effective-for-climate-cooling-says-university-of-birmingham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/cloud-engineering-effective-for-climate-cooling-says-university-of-birmingham\/46232\/","title":{"rendered":"Cloud engineering effective for climate cooling, says University of Birmingham"},"content":{"rendered":"
Led by researchers at the University of Birmingham, the study reveals that marine cloud brightening (MCB) primarily increases cloud cover, contributing significantly to its climate cooling effect.<\/p>\n
Traditionally, models estimating the cooling effects of MCB have focused on aerosol injection’s ability to brighten clouds, thereby enhancing their sunlight reflection.<\/p>\n
However, the new research suggests that the increase in cloud cover itself accounts for 60-90% of the cooling effect.<\/p>\n
The research was a collaborative effort involving institutions such as the Met Office, Universities of Edinburgh, Reading, and Leeds, as well as international partners including ETH Zurich, University of Maryland, and NASA.<\/p>\n
Amidst growing concerns over global warming, MCB, also known as marine cloud engineering, has emerged as a promising strategy to mitigate its effects.<\/p>\n
By spraying aerosols into the atmosphere, MCB aims to enhance cloud reflectivity, thereby offsetting rising temperatures.<\/p>\n
Already, experimental applications of MCB are underway, notably in Australia to combat bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef.<\/p>\n
Despite its potential, the mechanisms underlying MCB’s cooling effect remain poorly understood. Variability in cloud response to aerosols, compounded by meteorological conditions, presents challenges in accurately predicting its outcomes.<\/p>\n
To delve deeper into the effects of cloud engineering, researchers orchestrated a ‘natural experiment’ utilising aerosols from the Kilauea volcano eruption in Hawaii.<\/p>\n Leveraging machine learning and satellite data, they developed predictors to discern the direct influence of volcanic aerosols on cloud behaviour.<\/p>\n Their findings revealed a substantial increase in cloud cover\u2014up to 50%\u2014during periods of volcanic activity, resulting in a regional cooling effect of up to -10 W m-2.<\/p>\n This metric, measured in watts per square meter, signifies a negative figure indicating cooling. For context, doubling CO2 typically yields a warming effect of approximately +3.7 W m-2 globally.<\/p>\n