Little fluffy clouds may help save Australia’s Great Barrier Reef
Published: 03:09 PM,Sep 29,2021 | EDITED : 07:09 PM,Sep 29,2021
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To slow the speed at which rising temperatures and warm waters are bleaching the Great Barrier Reef’s corals, Australian scientists are spraying drops of ocean water into the sky to form clouds to protect the ecological treasure.
Researchers working on the so-called Cloud Brightening Project say they are using a turbine to spray microscopic sea particles to thicken existing clouds and reduce sunlight on the world’s largest coral reef ecosystem located off the northeastern coast of Australia.
The water droplets evaporate and only leave tiny salt crystals floating in the atmosphere allowing water vapour to condense around them, forming clouds, said Daniel Harrison, a senior lecturer at Southern Cross University who is running the project. “If we do that over a long period of time of a few weeks to two months when the reef is going through a marine heat wave, we can really start to lower the water temperature over the reef,” Harrison said.
Dr. Daniel Harrison, Senior Lecturer at the National Center for Marine Science at Southern Cross University and Head of the Cloud Lightening Project, is seen during the second field trial at Broadhurst Reef on the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia in March 2021. The project underwent a second experiment in March, at the end of the Southern Hemisphere summer when reefs off northeastern Australia are at their hottest, and collected valuable data on the atmosphere when reefs are most vulnerable to bleaching.
The combination of light and warm water causes coral bleaching. Harrison said that by reducing the light over coral reefs by 6 per cent in summer, the “bleaching stress” would be reduced by 50 per cent to 60 per cent on the undersea ecosystem.
But the benefits of cloud-lightening will diminish over time unless other measures slow climate change. “If we have really strong work on climate change, the modelling shows that cloud brightness is enough to stop coral reef decline and actually be seen during this period while we reduce our carbon emissions,” he said.
One of Australia’s most famous natural attractions, the reef came close to listing the reef as a world heritage site in danger of extinction by the United Nations, although it avoided designation after lobbying by Australia. — Reuters
Researchers working on the so-called Cloud Brightening Project say they are using a turbine to spray microscopic sea particles to thicken existing clouds and reduce sunlight on the world’s largest coral reef ecosystem located off the northeastern coast of Australia.
The water droplets evaporate and only leave tiny salt crystals floating in the atmosphere allowing water vapour to condense around them, forming clouds, said Daniel Harrison, a senior lecturer at Southern Cross University who is running the project. “If we do that over a long period of time of a few weeks to two months when the reef is going through a marine heat wave, we can really start to lower the water temperature over the reef,” Harrison said.
Dr. Daniel Harrison, Senior Lecturer at the National Center for Marine Science at Southern Cross University and Head of the Cloud Lightening Project, is seen during the second field trial at Broadhurst Reef on the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia in March 2021. The project underwent a second experiment in March, at the end of the Southern Hemisphere summer when reefs off northeastern Australia are at their hottest, and collected valuable data on the atmosphere when reefs are most vulnerable to bleaching.
The combination of light and warm water causes coral bleaching. Harrison said that by reducing the light over coral reefs by 6 per cent in summer, the “bleaching stress” would be reduced by 50 per cent to 60 per cent on the undersea ecosystem.
But the benefits of cloud-lightening will diminish over time unless other measures slow climate change. “If we have really strong work on climate change, the modelling shows that cloud brightness is enough to stop coral reef decline and actually be seen during this period while we reduce our carbon emissions,” he said.
One of Australia’s most famous natural attractions, the reef came close to listing the reef as a world heritage site in danger of extinction by the United Nations, although it avoided designation after lobbying by Australia. — Reuters