Our Story

Professor Stephen Salter and his colleagues Twomey and Latham worked on ways to make marine clouds whiter so that they reflect sunlight back into space. This is known as marine cloud brightening (MCB). Twomey showed that smaller cloud condensation nuclei would make clouds whiter, and Latham suggested spraying a fine mist of seawater into the air under clouds from ships. For over twenty years, Salter worked on designs of all the equipment needed to achieve this.

Concerns about unintended consequences, and uncertainty over who might pay for this, prevented this invention from progressing to the testing phase. However, growing scientific evidence about climate tipping points, an accidental experiment that resulted in more sunshine being absorbed by the planet, and year on year increases in greenhouse gas emissions caused Salter to form Ocean Cooling Technology in 2023. Unfortunately he had not much longer to live, and students and colleagues who had worked with him on some of his other inventions decided to continue his work.