LA JOLLA, California: Marine cloud brightening could reduce the strength of severe El Niño events in climate-model simulations. Researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography said this in a new study.
The study, published in “Science Advances,” examined whether brighter low marine clouds could reflect more sunlight away from the Pacific Ocean.
The researchers used smoke from Australia’s 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires as a natural experiment. Earlier work found the smoke brightened clouds over the Pacific and helped produce La Niña-like cooling, according to UC San Diego.
The team then used climate models to test similar cloud brightening before the strong El Niño events of 1997-98 and 2015-16.
The arXiv version lists Jessica S. Wan, John T. Fasullo, Nan Rosenbloom, Chih-Chieh Jack Chen and Katharine Ricke as authors.
The models suggested that early, targeted intervention could mitigate El Niño impacts. UC San Diego said the technique became more effective when researchers introduced it earlier in the event.
The source account said the simulations showed potential changes of up to 40 per cent in El Niño strength. There could also be related La Niña cooling and drying effects.
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Marine cloud brightening would involve spraying tiny sea-salt particles into low clouds, making them more reflective. The method remains controversial because it could shift rainfall, temperature and storm patterns across regions.
Study co-author Kate Ricke, a climate scientist at Scripps Oceanography and the University of California San Diego, said the idea differs from permanent planetary cooling. Because it would target extreme events temporarily, according to the source account.
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The researchers said the finding does not support immediate deployment. They called for more study on regional trade-offs, later La Niña effects and risks for places that benefit from El Niño rainfall.
