Applications

Here are some ways that Marine Cloud Brightening could help the next generation:

Prevent Run-Away Global Warming

There are several ways that a warmer planet triggers even more heating:

  • A warmer atmosphere holds more water vapour, and water vapour is a greenhouse gas that prevents heat from leaving the atmosphere.
  • Global warming is causing the loss of ice cover. The exposed land or sea underneath is darker, which absorbs more energy from the sun, speeding up global warming.

Marine Cloud Brightening could be used to prevent these types of feedback to prevent run-away global warming.

Slow Sea Level Rise

Sea level rise is being caused by the loss of the Polar ice sheets (Greenland and Antarctica ) and the expansion of the oceans as they absorb the additional heat in our atmosphere. Regional application of MCB can give communities and ecosystems more time to adapt to land loss.

Moderate Hurricanes & Typhoons

Cooling the ocean surface can reduce the energy available to hurricanes / typhoons / cyclones, reducing their destructive potential. This would be likely to save many lives, prevent billions of dollars in infrastructure damage, and prevent island states and vulnerable cities from becoming uninhabitable.

Save Coral Reefs

The main cause of coral bleaching is the warming ocean. By cooling regions of ocean during summer months, MCB can help protect the reefs from the devastating effects of the warming ocean.

Survive Heatwaves

There will be a need to protect people, crops and ecosystems from heatwaves and reduced rainfall, particularly as the communities that are the most impacted are those who have contributed the least to historical emissions.  Our research will quantify how MCB impacts rainfall and temperatures on land.