This is Part Two of a two-part story. Find Part One here. In April, researchers from the University of Washington sprayed sea salt particles into the air off the California coast in the nation’s first field test of this solar geoengineering concept. The idea: When certain types of aerosol particles, whether natural or synthetic pollutants, enter clouds, they cause them to brighten. Brighter clouds reflect more sunlight away from Earth, leading to localized cooling. Put into practice on a large scale, solar engineering could potentially offset rapidly worsening climate change impacts. The experiment was tiny: The team would spray sea salts for short periods each day for four months from the deck of the USS Hornet, a decommissioned aircraft carrier docked in Alameda, California, to understand how the particles moved in the air. But public blowback was huge: Within two months of the experiment’s start, local officials voted unanimously to halt it, citing the project’s lack of transparency, despite city consultants determining that the research wouldn’t impact wildlife or human health. “This is the pitchfork brigades run amok,” says Wake Smith, a climate researcher who lectures at Yale University. “This involved spraying seawater into the air over the sea, mimicking the action of waves. It’s hard to conceive a more harmless experiment. The Luddites are back.” A beach along the Californian coastline. In April, researchers from the University of Washington sprayed sea salt particles into the air off the California coast in the nation’s first field test of this solar…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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