How seawater sprayed into clouds could cool the Earth

SAVING the ice caps requires a bit of blue- sky thinking – and some rather creative scientists have risen to the challenge.

They say the North and South Poles could be ‘refrozen’ by having ships spray seawater into the sky.

After being pumped up masts through fine nozzles, salt crystals would then be absorbed by clouds. This would make them more reflective, sending heat from the sun back to space with a cooling effect on the poles below.

The novel suggestion is one of a number of ideas set to be explored at a new Cambridge University research centre, which will investigate radical ways to save the Earth.

Professor Sir David King, a former government chief scientist who is co- ordinating the Centre for Climate Repair, said: ‘What we do over the next ten years will determine the future of humanity for the next 10,000 years. There is no major centre in the world that would be focused on this one big issue.’

Another idea researchers will consider is ‘greening’ the oceans. This involves dropping iron in the sea to make plankton

‘It will determine the future of humanity’

bloom. The plankton then draws in the carbon dioxide (CO2) fuelling the greenhouse effect warming the planet.

Sir David said the centre would study technological solutions to take CO2 out of the atmosphere, including a method called carbon capture and storage. It is already being used in a pilot scheme at Tata Steel’s works in Port Talbot, South Wales, which is Britain’s biggest emitter of CO2. It aims to capture CO2 produced in the steelmaking process and combine it with hydrogen to make a synthetic fuel.

In October the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said countries need to cut carbon emissions by 45 per cent by 2030 and to net zero by 2050 to keep global temperatures from rising more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

Britain’s oceans have achieved only four out of 15 markers for ‘good environmental status’, according to campaigners.

The Marine Conservation Society said government figures showed areas of failure included plastic litter in the oceans, as well as protection of wildlife habitats.

Among the areas that achieved a status of ‘good’ were dealing with contaminants in the sea and seafood. The society described the figures as ‘a wake-up call’.