Sub-micrometer salt aerosol production intended for marine cloud brightening
Neukermans, A., Cooper, G., Foster, J., Gadian, A., Galbraith, L., Jain, S., … Ormond, B. (2014). Sub-micrometer salt aerosol production intended for marine cloud brightening. Atmospheric Research, 142, 158-170. doi:10.1016/j.atmosres.2013.10.025
This paper is largely concerned with research focused on, but not restricted to, aspects of Marine Cloud Brightening (MCB), one of several geo-engineering ideas for reducing the amount of sunlight arriving at the Earth's surface, thereby compensating for global warming resulting from fossil-fuel ... Show moreThis paper is largely concerned with research focused on, but not restricted to, aspects of Marine Cloud Brightening (MCB), one of several geo-engineering ideas for reducing the amount of sunlight arriving at the Earth's surface, thereby compensating for global warming resulting from fossil-fuel burning. Predominant attention is given to the development of techniques for generating sprays of sub-micrometer salt particles that can enter marine stratocumulus clouds and increase their albedo, thus producing a cooling. Generation of sub-micrometer salt particles by spraying salt solutions at supercritical conditions is described, along with a description of the apparatus used. Log-normal particle size distributions having median diameters of 32 to 286 nm, with GSDs (Geometric Standard Deviations) around 2, were generated by two variations on the technique. Show less