Scientists Aim To Dim Sunlight To Fight Climate Change: Report

[Jack Aylmer]

SCIENTISTS ARE LAUNCHING EXPERIMENTS TO DIM SUNLIGHT IN ORDER TO FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE.  

THE TELEGRAPH REPORTS, RESEARCHERS WILL PERFORM OUTDOOR TESTS WITHIN WEEKS, INCLUDING THE BRIGHTENING OF CLOUDS TO REFLECT SUNLIGHT USING AEROSOLS.

THE RESEARCH AIMS TO FIND NEW WAYS TO PREVENT THE WARMING OF THE PLANET DUE TO CLIMATE CHANGE.

THE STUDIES FOLLOW DECADES OF SCIENTISTS OBSERVING UNUSUALLY BRIGHT CLOUDS ABOVE SHIPPING ROUTES. RESEARCHERS DISCOVERED THE POLLUTION FROM THE SULPHUR-BURNING VESSELS CAUSED THE CLOUDS ABOVE THEM TO BECOME MORE REFLECTIVE OF SUNLIGHT, DIMMING AND COOLING THE AREA AROUND THEM. THE EXPERIMENTS ARE BUILDING ON THESE FINDINGS.

THE U-K’S ADVANCED RESEARCH AND INVENTION AGENCY OR ARIA IS DEDICATING TENS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS FOR THESE EXPERIMENTS.

THE PROGRAM DIRECTOR SAYS THE AGENCY WILL BE MAKING ANNOUNCEMENTS ON WHO WILL GET THE FUNDING AND WHEN OUTDOOR TESTS WILL TAKE PLACE IN THE NEXT FEW WEEKS. HE SAYS ONE OF THE CRUCIAL PIECES MISSING FROM CURRENT DATA IS REAL-WORLD PHYSICAL EXPERIMENTATION, ARGUING COMPUTER-GENERATED INFORMATION CAN ONLY PROVIDE LIMITED INSIGHT.

RESEARCHERS PROMISE THE EXPERIMENTS WILL BE SAFE AND FACE STIPULATIONS, INCLUDING A BAN ON RELEASING TOXIC CHEMICALS INTO THE AIR.

CRITICS, HOWEVER, WARN ARTIFICIAL CONTROL OF THE ENVIRONMENT MAY ACTUALLY MAKE CLIMATE CHANGE WORSE AND DISTRACTS FROM THE TRUE GOAL OF LOWERING GREENHOUSE EMISSIONS.

WHILE SCIENTISTS INVOLVED IN THE RESEARCH CONTEND, THE EXPERIMENTS ARE VITAL BECAUSE EMISSIONS AREN’T DROPPING FAST ENOUGH.

THE WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION REPORTS, GLOBAL GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS REACHED A RECORD HIGH LAST YEAR AND SHOW “NO SIGN” THEY’VE REACHED THEIR PEAK.

RESEARCHERS ARE FOCUSING ON TESTS INVOLVING SUNLIGHT REFLECTION MODELS INVOLVING THE RELEASE OF TINY PARTICLES INTO THE AIR TO REFLECT SUNLIGHT AND MARINE CLOUD BRIGHTENING, WHERE SHIPS SPRAY SEA-SALT PARTICLES INTO THE ATMOSPHERE TO INCREASE THE CLOUDS BRIGHTNESS TO REFLECT MORE SUNLIGHT. 

OTHER METHODS INCLUDE SEEDING SOME HIGH-ALTITUDE CLOUDS TO COOL THE EARTH BY ALLOWING HEAT TO ESCAPE INTO SPACE. SCIENTISTS SAY THESE CLOUDS CURRENTLY TRAP HEAT. 

RESEARCHERS SAY IF THESE EXPERIMENTS ARE SUCCESSFUL, THESE METHODS COULD BE EMPLOYED WITHIN THE NEXT DECADE. 

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FOR STRAIGHT ARROW NEWS– I’M JACK AYLMER.