From Tallbloke’s Talkshop

August 5, 2023 by oldbrew

Is this a case of ‘be careful what you wish for’? In a world of unproven climate assumptions masquerading as facts, the potential for unintended consequences is unlimited.
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Disappearing clouds are to blame for the “crazy” rise in ocean temperatures, scientists have warned.

A policy introduced in 2020 to cut the amount of sulphur emitted by ships resulted in an 80 per cent reduction of the element in the Earth’s atmosphere, says The Telegraph.

The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) demanded that the sulphur content in fuel be cut from 3.5 per cent to 0.5 per cent for all vessels operating worldwide.

The policy resulted in fewer build-ups of the element in clouds and less cloud coverage overall.

But this has increased the warming effect of carbon emissions by 50 per cent, partly because the sun heats the seas more effectively when the skies are clearer. [Talkshop comment – those assumptions again].

On Tuesday, the average sea surface temperature reached 20.96C, the hottest it has ever been. [Talkshop comment – media psychobabble].

“This year it’s been crazy,” Tianle Yuan, an atmospheric physicist at Nasa, told the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The experiment unintentionally engineered by the IMO rules is providing a rare opportunity for scientists to study a geoengineering scheme in action, although it is working in the wrong direction.

One strategy called “marine cloud brightening”, which would see ships inject particles back into the air to make clouds more reflective, could be used to slow global warming.

Mr Diamond even suggested additional particles could be introduced to the clouds to boost cloud density and in turn its reflective properties which would help reverse the current trend.

He claimed his study’s findings suggest humanity could cool the planet significantly by brightening clouds.

Full article here (DT) or here (VNE Network).