Scientists surprised the leaders of a Northern California city last month, when they unveiled a project to study technology that could one day be used to brighten clouds and mitigate global warming.The experiment involved spraying saltwater along the deck of the USS Hornet — an aircraft carrier docked in Alameda that serves as a museum — to test devices that can create and measure plumes of aerosols. The team planned three sprays per day, four days a week for 20 weeks.The actions themselves were harmless — and, indeed, environmental consultants the city hired to assess the project found no safety concerns, according to a report published Thursday. But the work represents a first step toward understanding whether this type of technology, at scale, could be used to make clouds reflect more sunlight back to space and slow some global warming effects.This possibility has thrust the city into the center of a larger debate over whether and how the exploration of geoengineering technologies to fight climate change ought to be explored — and who should have a say.The project, led by a team from the University of Washington, represents one of the first attempts to test marine cloud-brightening technology in the United States.City officials and constituents in Alameda said they only learned the full details of it after The New York Times published a story in April. The Times said the researchers knew their testing might be controversial to some, so the …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnScientists surprised the leaders of a Northern California city last month, when they unveiled a project to study technology that could one day be used to brighten clouds and mitigate global warming.The experiment involved spraying saltwater along the deck of the USS Hornet — an aircraft carrier docked in Alameda that serves as a museum — to test devices that can create and measure plumes of aerosols. The team planned three sprays per day, four days a week for 20 weeks.The actions themselves were harmless — and, indeed, environmental consultants the city hired to assess the project found no safety concerns, according to a report published Thursday. But the work represents a first step toward understanding whether this type of technology, at scale, could be used to make clouds reflect more sunlight back to space and slow some global warming effects.This possibility has thrust the city into the center of a larger debate over whether and how the exploration of geoengineering technologies to fight climate change ought to be explored — and who should have a say.The project, led by a team from the University of Washington, represents one of the first attempts to test marine cloud-brightening technology in the United States.City officials and constituents in Alameda said they only learned the full details of it after The New York Times published a story in April. The Times said the researchers knew their testing might be controversial to some, so the …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
