Small fluffy clouds could help save Australia’s Great Barrier Reef

SYDNEY, Sept.28 (Reuters) – To slow the rate at which high temperatures and warm waters whiten corals in the Great Barrier Reef, scientists in Australia spray seawater droplets into the sky to form clouds In order to protect the environmental treasure.

Researchers working on the so-called Cloud Brightening project said they were using a turbine to spray microscopic marine particles to thicken existing clouds and reduce sunlight on the larger reef ecosystem. coral reefs in the world located off the northeast coast of Australia.

The water droplets evaporate leaving only tiny salt crystals that float in the atmosphere, allowing water vapor to condense around them, forming clouds, said Daniel Harrison, master of lectures at Southern Cross University, which is leading the project.

“If we do this over an extended period of a few weeks to a few months when the corals experience a marine heat wave, we can actually start to lower the temperature of the water above the reef,” Harrison said.

The project had its second trial in March, at the end of the southern hemisphere summer, when the reef in northeast Australia is at its hottest, collecting valuable data on the atmosphere when the corals are most at risk of bleaching.

A combination of clear and warm water causes corals to bleach. By reducing the light on the reef in summer by 6%, “bleaching stress” would be reduced by 50% to 60% on the underwater ecosystem, Harrison said.

But the benefits of clearing clouds would diminish over time, unless other measures slow the pace of climate change.

“If we have a really strong action on climate change, the modeling shows that the clearing of the clouds is enough to stop the decline of the reef and to see it go through this period as we reduce our carbon emissions,” he said. he declared.

One of Australia’s best-known natural attractions, the reef came close to being inscribed on the UN’s Endangered World Heritage List, despite having avoided designation following lobbying by Australia.

Reporting by Stefica Nicol Bikes Writing by Byron Kaye; Edited by Christian Schmollinger

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