Context:
Several Australian organisations are investigating the potential of cloud brightening as a means to mitigate coral bleaching.
About Marine Cloud Brightening (Cloud whitening):
- A solar radiation management geoengineering or climate engineering approach that increases the reflectivity or albedo of marine clouds.
- Methodology:
- Use of elevated spraying apparatus located on both land-based structures and seafaring vessels.
- These apparatuses would release a mist composed of pressurized seawater droplets and dissolved salts to heights of up to 300 meters.
- As the water droplets evaporate, they would leave behind reflective salt crystals, effectively scattering incoming solar radiation.
- These crystals would also act as condensation nuclei, fostering the formation of new water droplets, consequently augmenting the overall cloud cover over the marine environment.
- Promising solution to counteract Global Warming – reasons:
- easily implemented,
- potentially very effective
- environmentally friendly
Albedo:
- Albedo is the fraction of light that a surface reflects.
- Measured on a scale from 0 to 1 – 1 indicating the reflection of all incoming light.
- Average albedo of ocean – 0.05 to 0.10 (absorption of roughly 93% of the incoming solar radiation).
- This absorbed sunlight is transformed into heat, raising both ocean and planetary temperatures.
- Marine cloud brightening geoengineering seeks to enhance the albedo of marine clouds, which would result in more sunlight being reflected back into space. This, in turn, would cool the ocean and the atmosphere, ultimately mitigating global warming.
Read more about Geoengineering
Source: The Hindu
Previous year question
In the context of which of the following do some scientists suggest the use of cirrus cloud thinning technique and the injection of sulphate aerosol into stratosphere? [2019]
(a) Creating the artificial rains in some regions
(b) Reducing the frequency and intensity of tropical cyclones
(c) Reducing the adverse effects of solar wind on the Earth
(d) Reducing the global warming
Answer: (d)
