Experts Say Plans to Make Artificial Clouds to Fight Global Warming may Backfire

Experts have warned that making artificial clouds to fight global warming could make things worse.

Scientists had come up with the idea of man-made clouds to reflect sunlight and heat back into space almost twenty years ago.

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It was proposed men can form clouds over the oceans by injecting salt spray into the air from a flotilla of sailing ships.

However, this concept of 'geoengineering' - deliberately altering the global climate - can actually hamper natural cloud formation over the coastal regions of the continents because of other pollutants from industrial activities.

Professor Professor Ken Carslaw, of the University of Leeds, and his colleagues found, using a computer model, that it was hard to create a uniform layer of saltwater spray. Also, natural particles in the air, called aerosols, could interfere with the process.

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"Our research suggests that attempts to generate brighter clouds via sea spray geoengineering would at best have only a tiny effect and could actually cause some clouds to become less bright," the Independent quoted him, as saying.

He added: "In some locations, the artificial spray particles may hinder natural drop formation and could have an opposite effect on climate to that intended. In practice, generating a uniform covering of reflective clouds over large regions of the world's oceans would be extremely challenging."