this is Just calculated Scientists from the University of California, San Diego and the Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., have produced a mathematical model that depicts the widespread distribution of sea salt in the air, from ships deployed in the Pacific Ocean, three seasons a year (except winter) for 30 years.
The hypothetical result: “whiter” clouds, blocking enough sunlight to reduce the number of heat waves in North America… but at the same time sending more heat waves to Europe. The study appeared in the journal The nature of climate change.
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Their conclusion is consistent with the crux of the criticism leveled at geoengineering for two decades: Any form of large-scale climate change in one region—assuming it is possible—would inevitably have repercussions elsewhere.
Other methods have been discussed over the years, such as dispersing sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere using balloons, again to reflect more sunlight. Such experiments look attractive on a regional scale, Worried in 2023 But “we have very little data on how this impacts agriculture, human health, or other organisms,” California climate scientist Katherine Reeke (one of the co-authors of the new study) said.
And again, it depends on when we’re doing this work at scale. The researchers also produced a model starting from the assumption that in 2050, the planet will have already warmed by 2 degrees Celsius compared to the pre-industrial era. In this scenario, cloud bleaching would come too late to reduce the number of heat waves in the western United States. On the other hand, heat waves will continue to intensify in Europe.
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