0:01

Ted Audio Collective. Welcome

0:11

back to Ted Health. I'm your host,

0:13

Dr. Shoshana Ungerleiter. What

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if I told you that a gray,

0:18

stormy sky could hold the key to

0:20

tackling one of the biggest challenges of

0:22

our time? Climate

0:24

change. In an

0:26

intriguing twist, it turns out that our

0:28

global efforts to clear the air of

0:31

aerosols might be warming

0:33

the planet even faster. Enter

0:36

the fascinating world of cloud

0:39

brightening, where tiny sea salt

0:41

particles could be superheroes in

0:43

disguise. Join

0:45

atmospheric scientist Sarah J. Doherty

0:48

as she unveils a bold experiment

0:51

that could cool our planet, using

0:53

one of nature's most common

0:55

yet overlooked resources, the

0:58

clouds. This

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learn more. I

3:24

want to tell you instead a

3:26

story about unintended consequences. For

3:29

many of us, it's really easy to forget

3:32

that in addition to emitting a lot of

3:34

greenhouse gases, humans have been adding a

3:36

lot of particulate pollution to the atmosphere. These

3:39

small particles, which we scientists call

3:42

aerosols, are responsible for the death

3:44

of between 4 and 10 million

3:46

people a year around the globe. For

3:49

much of the world, this remains a

3:51

major public health crisis. And

3:54

because of that, there are significant efforts underway

3:56

to clean up the source of these emissions,

3:58

which is for the future. them

8:00

quite a bit brighter. So

8:03

this poses an interesting question. Might

8:07

it be possible to rapidly

8:09

reduce climate warming by

8:11

mimicking this effect that pollution aerosols are

8:13

already having on clouds, but

8:16

do so by adding natural aerosols rather

8:19

than pollution to clouds? Specifically,

8:22

by adding sea salt aerosol to

8:24

clouds over the ocean where

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sea salt aerosols already act as

8:28

seeds for cloud droplet formation. Well

8:32

we start with studying this problem using computer models.

8:36

And when we add tiny sea salt aerosols

8:38

to the clouds over the ocean in global

8:40

climate models, we find that

8:42

brightening just a fraction of the

8:44

clouds over the ocean does in

8:46

fact rapidly and significantly reduce climate

8:48

warming from greenhouse gases. So

8:51

these models indicate it is possible. But

8:54

here's the problem. These

8:56

global scale models used to study the

8:58

climate impacts of marine cloud brightening lack

9:01

the ability to resolve all of

9:03

these detailed interactions between aerosols and

9:06

clouds. So

9:08

they can't tell us how much cloud brightening is

9:10

possible or where. For

9:13

that problem, we have to turn to

9:15

models that cover much more localized areas

9:17

of the globe, but that include many,

9:20

many more details about aerosols, clouds, and

9:22

how they interact. So

9:24

what we really need is better real world

9:26

data that we can use to test and

9:28

inform these models that we use to study

9:30

marine cloud brightening. Now

9:33

with this problem, as with many problems in the

9:35

world, the devil is in the details. Many

9:39

of the most uncertain aspects of the

9:41

potential for marine cloud brightening have to

9:43

do with how really small scale air

9:45

motions in clouds, we're talking over like

9:48

a few square kilometers, respond to the

9:50

addition of aerosols. So

9:53

being able to systematically study how

9:55

clouds respond to aerosols over just

9:57

like a single plume of aerosols.

10:00

over a small area of clouds could

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go a long way to improving these

10:04

climate models. And

10:07

I want to tell you today about a powerful

10:09

approach that our team is developing to do just

10:11

that. So

10:14

based on what I just said, you probably won't be

10:16

surprised to learn that that approach is to add a

10:18

single plume of sea salt aerosols

10:20

to a small area of clouds over the

10:23

ocean and see how those clouds

10:25

respond. Basically to make

10:27

a single clean ship track. Now

10:31

the observations for studies like this would

10:33

look a lot like those we've been

10:35

doing for decades to study how pollution

10:37

aerosols are already affecting clouds. Research

10:41

aircraft filled with specialized instruments

10:44

can be used to measure in great

10:46

detail the atmospheric conditions, the aerosols, the

10:48

clouds, and how they all vary. The

10:52

difference between what we've done here in

10:54

the past and what we would do

10:56

with these new controlled aerosol studies is

10:58

that we would be able to actually

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compare clouds that have different aerosol concentrations

11:02

but that are otherwise the same. This

11:06

would allow us to quantify where changes

11:08

in cloud reflectivity are actually being caused

11:10

by the aerosols rather than just varying

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due to other factors. Now

11:16

it turns out that generating the

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sea salt aerosol plume with the

11:20

right characteristics for doing these controlled

11:23

aerosol studies is a significant technological

11:25

challenge. The aerosols need to be

11:27

just right. To

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date, no one has demonstrated

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the ability to generate both the size

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and quantity of aerosols you would need

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to do these studies where you would

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consistently and appreciably brighten marine

11:41

clouds. As

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a climate scientist trying to better

11:46

understand how aerosols affect clouds and

11:48

climate, I am really thrilled to

11:50

be part of a team that

11:52

is developing a new instrument to

11:54

meet that challenge. Our

11:57

new cloud aerosol research instrument is

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specifically designed to generate a very

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large number of very, very tiny

12:03

sea salt aerosols. These

12:06

aerosols are about a thousandth of the

12:08

width of a human hair, because that's

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the size that's ideal for marine cloud

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brightening. I'm also really excited

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to be able to tell you that we've just

12:16

started our first scientific studies with this instrument. This

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happened just two weeks ago. We've

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set up our new coastal atmospheric aerosol

12:24

research and engagement facility on the

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flight deck of the USS Hornet

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Sea, Air and Space Museum in Alameda,

12:31

California. So on

12:34

the Hornet, we are making observations at

12:37

multiple locations along the flight deck of

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the sea salt aerosol plume that is being

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generated with our new instrument. These

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measurements are going to allow us

12:47

to study how the aerosol evolves

12:49

as it's transported towards clouds. It's

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also letting us study whether or

12:55

not this instrument is delivering the

12:57

right aerosol with the right characteristics

12:59

for use in later studies

13:02

at sea of the single plume

13:04

experiment and how clouds respond. We've

13:07

set up this study specifically at a

13:09

museum because to make it easily

13:12

accessible to the public, educators

13:14

and other researchers. And

13:17

we consider this level of openness to be

13:19

a really important part of our program. And

13:21

that's because we're hoping that the work

13:23

at the Care Research Facility can

13:25

be the start of broader international

13:28

engagement in this research, particularly by

13:30

our colleagues in historically marginalized communities

13:32

who are the most vulnerable to

13:35

climate change. Their

13:38

direct engagement in this research

13:40

is absolutely critical to

13:42

having equitable and informed discussions about

13:44

whether we ever would use marine

13:46

cloud brightening to cool climate as

13:49

a way of addressing climate risks.

13:54

Now, don't get me wrong. Marine

13:56

cloud brightening will not reverse

13:58

the effects of greenhouse gases.

14:01

This is not a solution to the climate

14:03

crisis. I really have to repeat

14:05

that. This is not a solution

14:08

to the climate crisis. However,

14:11

marine cloud brightening might be a

14:14

way of treating the main symptom

14:16

of the problem, which is too

14:18

much heat in the atmosphere and ocean. We

14:22

believe that the world needs the best

14:24

information possible to decide whether approaches like

14:26

marine cloud brightening might be a component

14:29

of how we chart a safer course

14:31

into a future that now includes

14:34

a rapidly and dangerously warming climate.

14:37

We also believe it's really critical that

14:40

we better understand the evolving role of

14:42

aerosols in climate change and the climate

14:44

system if we don't want

14:46

to be flying blind into the coming

14:48

couple decades of climate change. I

14:52

hope that I've left you as excited as

14:54

I am about these new capabilities we're developing

14:56

to study these really important questions and

14:59

I invite you all to come join us at our

15:01

new care research facility. Thank you. Have

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Again, that's

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pendulumlife.com/TEDHealth. That

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was Sarah J. Dougherty at TED 2024. And

16:13

that's it for today's episode. Thanks

16:15

so much for listening. TEDHealth

16:17

is a part of the TED Audio Collective. I'd

16:21

love to hear your thoughts about the episode. Send

16:24

me a message on Instagram at

16:26

ShoshanaMD. This

16:28

episode was produced by me and

16:30

Costanza Gallardo, edited by

16:32

Alejandra Salazar, and fact-checked by

16:35

Vanessa Garcia Woodworth. Special

16:37

thanks to Maria Lajas, Farah

16:40

Day-Grunge, David Biello, Daniela

16:42

Balarezo, and Michelle Quint.

16:45

I'm Dr. Shoshana Ungerleider, and I'll talk to

16:47

you again next week.