Marine cloud brightening

Why in news?

• Australian researchers are exploring the concept of “marine cloud brightening” as a potential solution to mitigate coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef caused by extreme heat.

About Marine cloud brightening

• Marine cloud brightening is a geo-engineering technique that aims to mitigate climate change by increasing the reflectivity of marine clouds.
• Marine cloud brightening involves spraying tiny saltwater droplets or aerosol particles into low-lying marine clouds, which are commonly found over the oceans. These aerosols act as cloud condensation nuclei, providing more surfaces for water droplets to form.
• As the aerosols disperse within the cloud, they promote the formation of more, smaller water droplets. This increases the overall number of droplets within the cloud.
• More water droplets in the cloud make it more reflective, which means it can scatter more sunlight back into space. This increased reflectivity, or albedo, can have a cooling effect on the Earth’s surface.
• The idea behind marine cloud brightening is to enhance the natural process of cloud formation, making clouds more reflective and thus reducing the amount of solar energy that reaches the Earth’s surface. By doing so, it’s proposed to counteract some of the effects of global warming.
• The idea of marine cloud brightening was initiated after the mass coral bleaching event in 2016, with initial lab development and pilot testing near the Great Barrier Reef.

PRACTICE QUESTION:

How many of the following can be categorised as climate engineering methods?

1. Marine cloud brightrening
2. Stratospheric aerosol injection
3. Space-based reflectors
4. Direct carbon capture

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) Only one

(b) Only two

(c) Only three

(d) All the four

Answer