Marine Cloud Brightening - Tribute to Stephen Salter

The Climate Emergency Forum hosts a discussion about the late Stephen Salter, a pioneering professor of engineering at the University of Edinburgh, and his work on marine cloud brightening (MCB) as a potential solution for mitigating global warming.

This video was recorded on March 27th, 2024, and published on April 14th, 2024, and represents the opinions of the discussion participants.

The participants reflect on Salter's innovative ideas and creative mindset. A key focus is Salter's proposal to use a fleet of unmanned ships to spray fine sea water droplets into marine clouds to increase their reflectivity and albedo, thereby reflecting more sunlight back into space and cooling the planet. Salter provided calculations on the number of ships needed for different cooling goals, such as reversing sea level rise or preserving Arctic ice. The dialogue highlights the relatively low cost and scalability of this approach versus other geoengineering methods.

The participants emphasize the need for solutions like MCB, given the rapidly worsening climate crisis. However, they also acknowledge the public opposition and lack of media coverage around such unconventional approaches. They stress the importance of engaging in broader conversations, good governance, and bringing the public on board through strategic communication efforts to explain the vision and overcome the code of silence around these topics in mainstream discourse.

Overall, the dialogue serves as a tribute to Salter's innovative work while underscoring the potential of marine cloud brightening as a viable, affordable, and environmentally-friendly way to help mitigate global warming, if implemented responsibly and with proper public support.

Links:

- Healthy Planet Action Coalition

- Planetary Restoration Action Group

- A Farwell to Ice

- Could Salter's duck have solved the oil crisis?

- Little fluffy clouds may help save Australia's Great Barrier Reef

- A Climate Vocabulary of the Future, Second Edition

Special Guests:
Stephen Salter (1938–2024) - was an Emeritus Professor at the University of Edinburgh, invented the Salter duck wave energy device. His innovations include the world's first multi-directional wave tank and feedback control systems for wave absorption.

Dr. Peter Wadhams - is a pioneering researcher in Arctic ice and atmospheric/ocean physics. He is one of the leading experts on Arctic sea ice decline. Wadhams authored the acclaimed book "Farewell to Ice" which received overwhelmingly positive reviews beyond just academia.

Dr. Alexandra Price - is a Research Associate at the University of Edinburgh with a background in experimental modelling of wave energy converters. She has worked principally in commercial R&D of wave energy.

Dr. Win Rampen - is Chair of Energy Storage at the University of Edinburgh, founded Artemis Intelligent Power, advancing Digital Displacement hydraulic tech. A pioneer in renewable energy, he oversaw Artemis's growth and holds multiple fellowships.

Robert Tulip - is a veteran of the Australian Public Service with degrees from Macquarie and Monash Universities. He is a climate engineering pioneer advocating for ocean-based algae production. He is also part of the Healthy Planet Action Coalition Steering Circle.

Herb Simmens - is co-founder of the Healthy Planet Action Coalition (HPAC). As Executive Director, he crafted NJ's smart growth plan, led higher ed climate consortiums, managed cities, taught, and authored books on climate strategy.

Regular Panelists:
Paul Beckwith - Climate Systems Scientist. Professor at the University of Ottawa's Paleoclimatology Laboratory as well as at Carleton University

Video Production:
Charles Gregoire - Electrical Engineer, Webmaster and IT prime for FacingFuture.Earth & the Climate Emergency Forum; Climate Reality Leader

Heidi Brault - Video production and website assistant, Organizer and convener, Metadata technician, COP team lead for FacingFuture.Earth and the Climate Emergency Forum; BA (Psychology); Climate Reality Leader

Our Website:

Attributions:
Background Music:
- Title: Through the City II
- Author: Crowander
- Source: Free Music Archive
- License: CC BY-NC 4.0

[KlausCastanhaMerini]

Thanks all you at climate emegency forum !!! God bless you ! I love you !! You are very important.

[brianwheeldon]

Brilliant, thank you. 38:31 Stephen Salter sounds a lot like that man James Lovelock. A practical genius and theoretical wizard combined in one mind. The world should have been so lucky to have had Stephen Salter on its team.

[Mivoat]

Thanks everyone for this important presentation, especially the first part from Stephen himself. Very good comment from Ali near the end, that many of the people opposing climate solutions have the same concerns as those of us who see great potential in MCB, which is the safety of our planet going forward.

[danielfaben]

Mr. Tulip of course stated that the process represents the first step to restoration. While laudable, this engineering feat is not the first necessary step by a long shot. If humanity was serious about this predicament, choosing to lower impacts across the board would have already taken place. Dancing on a increasingly tilted floor might be fun for awhile but hitting the wall is assured in time. This mitigation falls under the category of enabling. Business as usual for all of us is the expectation of the bright and reasonable people. We think it is a right to have our high standard of living.

[joannecarter]

Really enjoyed this conversation. Thank you for your ongoing stewardship and insights which lift the spirit. I hope a way can be found to continue the research and scaling up of such promising science.

[solarwind]

While Biden is still in Office, it would be good for american universities who have marine science capabilities to shake the money tree on Monday morning and see if they can get this equipment on their research vessels post haste. Need to have more influential voices from all over pushing this asap IMO.

Thank you very much for bringing this practical sciences to light!!!

[StabilisingGlobalTemperature]

Thank you for this tribute. It is inspiration and depressing at the same time. Use of spray is relatively low cost, so why not just get on with it?

[russmarkham]

fantastic video. Gives me new hope that some kind of climate repair may be feasible. We must do the research at the very least. I have been of that view for some time. This method seems better a priori than injecting SO2 or dust into the stratosphere since that would be more polluting. However, H2O is also a GHG so I think it needs the research on whether it works at scale

[Mtnshell]

This was a great video. My only question is why aren't we doing this already?

[StabilisingGlobalTemperature]

Maybe drone ships plus added water spray equipment to existing ships? The existing ships would go on their normal routes. The drone ships could fill in the gaps, and respond to seasonal tilt of the earth, to target where there is most sunlight in any particular time of the year. There are many thousands of existing ships. If even a few percent of them have this equipment fitted then that would make a significant beneficial impact. Some of the major cruise ship companies are going green, and will want to burnish their green credentials (maybe cynically to attract customers, but never mind, they are doing it.) So I think that suggesting fitting cloud brightening equipment would be warmly welcomed. I expect they would want to see what the costs are for installation and maintenance. And good, reliable equipment that does not cause problems for passengers. (noise, unpleasant smells, water dripping, or whatever.)

[kimweaver]

How will reducing actinic light impingement on the sea affect photosynthesis in marine flora? Will it affect the total amount of nutrients in the marine food chain? Will it reduce fish populations?

[Anyreck]

Interesting to hear of Steven's work, i hope the message on benefits to Earth of MCB achieve implementation.

[StabilisingGlobalTemperature]

Just to mention an experience with salt water spray: During the covid lockdown I had the idea to use salt water mist as an anti-viral. Salty water can be sucked into the nose to mitigate common cold virus, but it is not all that comfortable to do. Also, just a salt water solution would get into just the nazal cavity, not the lungs where it would be most needed. A salt mist could be breathed right into the lungs. I tried ordering a nebuliser, but it never arrived. So I ordered an ultrasonic misting machine, which produces far more mist than I needed. Added salt to the water, and it did produce a lot of very fine mist. Breathing it in was not at all uncomfortable, and I am pretty sure it helped when I did get covid. This was long before vaccines were available. I was unwell for a couple of weeks only, and was not much worse for me than a cold. I am pretty sure my mild illness was because of the salty mist. A friend of similar age was unwell for months, but did not like the salt mist idea. Not all of the mist did I breathe, and the result was an extremely fine covering of salt powder over all the surfaces in the room! This same approach could be used for cloud brightening? But the machine would need to be ruggedised for purpose: after a few weeks the salt corroded the piezo disc metal electrodes, and it stopped working.

[Fishcakebuttie]

We absolutely should not do cloud altering. We already have a global massive dimming effect.

[h.e.hazelhorst]

Could these autonomous vessels also serve a dual purpose, for bringing colder, nutrient-rich water to the ocean surface? Or seeding ocean eddy’s with iron sulphate? Or dispersing FeCl to combat methane emmissions?

[christill]

Sadly I think his story represents in large part how we got here. Ignoring and defunding the experts. Making things as hard as possible for anything good to happen. But what a fantastic person who leaves a great legacy.

[christill]

It’s always been a fantastic looking solution, as has MEER and Ocean Pasture Restoration. Maybe when business as usual starts collapsing, and humans get desperate enough, we’ll actually try it.

[anamariacarvalho]

Hi Paul. Its me, Ana from Sao Paulo. A brilhante ideia The aerossol reflection from marine clouds

[allenfoust]

All the mice ever talk about is getting that bell on the cat. Never attempted, never going to.

[lisaclausen]

So hopeful! Let's do it!!!.0000