In today’s global economy, we rely heavily on large cargo ships that traverse the oceans to transport goods. These large vessels burn sulfur-containing fuel. In doing so, they dump sulfur dioxide into the air, which is a known cause of acid rain and respiratory distress in humans. As such, in 2020 the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) limited sulfur in marine fuels from the previously accepted 3.5% by mass to 0.5%. This change was made in an attempt to improve air quality worldwide, but researchers have now discovered an unintended consequence: fewer ship track clouds and warmer oceans.
Ship tracks are low lying, reflective clouds that follow in the wake of ships. They form when sulfate particles are released into the atmosphere, seeding and brightening the clouds. Given the sheer number of cargo ships that travel the oceans, a substantial portion of the globe tends to be covered by ship tracks, reflecting the sun’s heat back out to space. In reducing sulfate particles, the IMO regulations have also decreased the prevalence of ship tracks: in two independent studies, Michael Diamond, Tianle Yuan, and colleagues studied these clouds and found that cloud brightness over the oceans has decreased significantly since the regulatory changes in 2020. The prevalence of ship tracks has decreased over 50% in the main shipping corridors after 2020, exposing more of the oceans’ surface to the warming effects of the sun.
This unintentional experiment in geoengineering has shown us not only the wide-reaching impacts of our actions, but also a potential avenue of planet cooling. One way to reflect the sun and keep the oceans cool without polluting the environment is marine cloud brightening, or shooting sea water as tiny droplets up into the air. Most of the water evaporates, leaving behind crystals of salt which can seed clouds, similar to sulfur dioxide. This could be one tool to combat climate change.
These studies were led by Michael Diamond, an assistant professor at Florida State University in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science, and Tianle Yuan, an assistant research scientist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in the Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology.
Managing Correspondent: Stacey Yu
Press Article: “We’re changing the clouds.” An unintended test of geoengineering is fueling record ocean warmth. News from Science
Original Journal Articles: Detection of large-scale cloud microphysical changes within a major shipping corridor after implementation of the International Maritime Organization 2020 fuel sulfur regulations. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
Global reduction in ship-tracks from sulfur regulations for shipping fuel. Science Advances
Image Credit: Pixabay/Nathtravelandphoto
Please, don’t talk with idiots like him
Except this is no surprise to scientists. This is exactly what they proposed in the 1990s but apparently environmentalists don’t believe in science. https://www.wired.com/2008/06/ff-geoengineering/
It seems unintentional geoengineering by cargo ships is analogous to unintentional geoengineering caused by burning fossil fuels.
Words fail me to describe the stupidity of mankind in thinking they can alter the temperature or climate or clouds. God made the heavens and the earth and he is control of the weather/climate. He said while the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. God sends the rain and the sun and all is in his control. Yes, we can have a more healthy and cleaner environment by reducing pollution and this would certainly have great health benefits but would not have any effect whatsoever on our climate as it is not in the hand of man. Looking back fifty years ago the summers were so hot the tar actually bubbled on the road and not a word about climate change then. It’s all quite laughable really and a money wasting exercise.
I truly loathe religious nut jobs like you. Staring facts straight into the face, and ignoring all that is affecting them because it’s in God’s hands. I’m so very happy that my generation, and gen Z are running far away from religion in droves. Religion is finally losing – thank God.
Too bad the planet appears to be losing against us, too, however.
The planet isn’t losing, the planet will be fine. Humans are f@#&ed-George Carlin.
So you say science..Most of Gen Z and your Gen who “loathe religion”, fully support lgbtq+ Ideology which is the complete opposite of science..I am religious but know the govt. has been modifying our weather for decades. That is science. In fact, weather modification as warfare was banned in the 70s. Cloud seeding is going to keep “watering the earth for years to come” to keep up with the apparent increasing population that is planned for.. Global warming is a hoax if they have been making it rain, snow, hail, and also preventing storms for years. The planet isn’t losing, they control it, but politicians want you to think that so you buy into their EV bullsh*t. In the end though, nobody on earth can beat God. Anyways..
Is that the same god inspiring the Gaza debacle?