ARTIFICIAL CLOUDS:
THE CHEAP TECHNOLOGY OF THE FUTURE
TO OVERCOME THE CLIMATE CHANGE
(December, 2024)
ABSTRACT
Artificial clouds are still being produced by climate scientists on an experimental basis. Freshwater scarcity, lack of shade and drought are driving research into unconventional water resources in many regions. Metal salts are being released into the air to promote cloud formation, smog reduction and precipitation. The only low-cost process capable of stopping warming, increasing rainfall, reducing hail, and mitigating droughts with shade is therefore the technology of the future. The cloud-forming materials are silver iodide, potassium iodide, dry ice, liquid propane and sodium chloride, which when atomized form cores on which water vapour can condense, forming cloud droplets. Cloud-forming materials are dispersed in the atmosphere by aircraft, balloons and rockets. The technique is also useful in water management to improve the water supply to reservoirs and lakes by increasing rainfall. There may be some concern about the environmental impact of chemicals used for artificial cloud formation.
According to climate scientists, clouds are greenhouse gases, which is only a partly true statement. Because of their reflectivity, clouds would cool the Earth by about 12 °C (22 °F), with the cooling largely caused by stratus clouds. However, by reflecting the radiation they emit, they also heat the Earth's surface by about 7 °C (13 °F), which is similarly caused by low-level stratus clouds, resulting in an average heat loss of 5 °C (9.0 °F), or effective cooling. ["Cloud Climatology". International Satellite Cloud Climatology Program. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Retrieved 12 July 2011.]. Crucially, low-level stratus clouds have a cooling effect, so if no stratus clouds are formed, they contribute to warming. By 2024, the climate has already warmed by one and a half degrees Celsius, of which about 0.2 - 0.3 °C is due to low stratus clouds.
"Over the last twenty to twenty-five years, the amount of UV radiation reaching the Earth's surface has increased by 6-14% because the transparency of the atmosphere has improved by 10%." The warming process is causing anticyclonic weather in Europe. The uneven distribution and intensity of evaporation increases with temperature, causing storms and at the same time drought and forest fires. Atmospheric transparency (the optical thickness of the atmosphere in 2018) at the Earth's surface has improved by 10% compared to the previous minimum. The improvement is partly due to a reduction in industrial air pollution. Measured by measuring the intensity of UV radiation. The improvement in opacity is partly due to a reduction in the amount of low stratus clouds, so artificially promoting cloud formation should be considered (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_seeding).
"Over the last twenty to twenty-five years, the amount of UV radiation reaching the Earth's surface has increased by 6-14% because the transparency of the atmosphere has improved by 10%." The warming process is causing anticyclonic weather in Europe. The uneven distribution and intensity of evaporation increases with temperature, causing storms and at the same time drought and forest fires. Atmospheric transparency (the optical thickness of the atmosphere in 2018) at the Earth's surface has improved by 10% compared to the previous minimum. The improvement is partly due to a reduction in industrial air pollution. Measured by measuring the intensity of UV radiation. The improvement in opacity is partly due to a reduction in the amount of low stratus clouds, so artificially promoting cloud formation should be considered (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_seeding).
ARTIFICIAL CLOUDS
In a recent report, the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) proposes to spend $100-200 million over five years to study the potential of solar shading, assess the potential harmful consequences of the intervention and work out the details of ethical regulation of the technology (https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25762/reflecting-sunlight-recommendations-for-solar-geoengineering-research-and-research-governance)
According to the NAS, reducing fossil fuel emissions remains the most effective way to mitigate the effects of climate change, but this process is moving too slowly to rely on this alone and alternative methods urgently need to be developed, based on studies of the effects of major volcanic eruptions.
In a recent report, the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) proposes to spend $100-200 million over five years to study the potential of solar shading, assess the potential harmful consequences of the intervention and work out the details of ethical regulation of the technology (https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25762/reflecting-sunlight-recommendations-for-solar-geoengineering-research-and-research-governance)
According to the NAS, reducing fossil fuel emissions remains the most effective way to mitigate the effects of climate change, but this process is moving too slowly to rely on this alone and alternative methods urgently need to be developed, based on studies of the effects of major volcanic eruptions.
The report distinguishes between three types of climate engineering (https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/what-solar-geoengineering) that limit the warming effect of the sun on the Earth:
- filling the stratosphere with tiny reflective particles that block sunlight; which is expensive
- making low-lying stratus clouds over the oceans reflective using the same particles;
- and thinning out high-altitude cirrus (i.e. clouds of fluff) to allow more heat to escape from the Earth's atmosphere.
- filling the stratosphere with tiny reflective particles that block sunlight; which is expensive
- making low-lying stratus clouds over the oceans reflective using the same particles;
- and thinning out high-altitude cirrus (i.e. clouds of fluff) to allow more heat to escape from the Earth's atmosphere.
The researchers suggest two main approaches:
The first - stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) - would involve injecting tiny, reflective particles called aerosols into the upper atmosphere to cool the planet.
The second - marine layer cloud brightening (MCB) - would use sea salt to stimulate cloud formation over the ocean, which also helps reflect sunlight back into the region.
The first - stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) - would involve injecting tiny, reflective particles called aerosols into the upper atmosphere to cool the planet.
The second - marine layer cloud brightening (MCB) - would use sea salt to stimulate cloud formation over the ocean, which also helps reflect sunlight back into the region.
SAI would simulate what happens during large volcanic eruptions, when volcanoes release small particles into the upper atmosphere, the stratosphere. The particles reflect sunlight and lead to cooling for as long as they remain in the stratosphere, which can take up to a few years after sputtering. By injecting sulphate or other aerosol particles into the stratosphere, SAI could also mimic the cooling effect of large volcanic eruptions in reducing global temperatures. If ever deployed, SAI would have global effects, reducing temperatures on a large scale.
MCB involves spraying sea salt in low sea clouds, increasing the brightness and reflectivity (albedo) of the clouds, causing local cooling.
Harvard University is to begin test flights to assess the potential of the technology, but it has been delayed due to protests from environmentalists (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/feb/08/solar-geoengineering-test-flight-plan-under-fire-over-environmental-concerns-aoe). The plan is to release a balloon over Fort Sumner, New Mexico, which, before reaching its final altitude of 24.5 kilometres, will spray 100 kilograms of sulphate aerosol into the atmosphere, which, if all goes well, will reflect the sun's rays, reducing local temperatures. The idea is to replicate artificially what happens in volcanic eruptions.
There are experimentally verified low-cost methods (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_seeding) to create low-flying shading clouds: for example, the Pakistani government has used a small aircraft to create clouds and then rain at ten points in the city of Lahore (Punjab). In summer, artificial clouds are created by spraying kitchen salt mixed with water (https://24.hu/tudomany/2023/12/23/mesterseges-felho-eso-pakisztan-szmog-legszennyezes/), and in winter by spreading silver iodide chips. The latter has been used for many years in Hungary to prevent ice damage (by launching). The technology is also used regularly in several Middle Eastern countries, China and India. Shading is useful and necessary even with little or no rain. According to Punjab's environment minister, the creation of clouds was successful, but the rainfall ultimately proved to be insufficient, although the air quality in Lahore city improved with a few millimetres of rain, with the AQI value of over 300 dropping to 189. The effect lasted for a few days, after which pollution levels returned to previous levels. The authorities plan to create artificial clouds and rain on a regular basis during the smog. "If we can clean the air for the price of a small plane's fuel, then the method is worth it".