Geoengineering Test Quietly Launches Salt Crystals into Atmosphere

[pianopraze]

Scientific American

The nation's first outdoor test to limit global warming by increasing cloud cover launched Tuesday from the deck of a decommissioned aircraft carrier in the San Francisco Bay.  

The experiment, which organizers didn't widely announce to avoid public backlash, marks the acceleration of a contentious field of research known as solar radiation modification. The concept involves shooting substances such as aerosols into the sky to reflect sunlight away from the Earth.

I’m too black pilled.  

We’re going to kill ourselves off with our own stupidity. 

Screw these bung holes. Screw anyone who thinks this is a good idea. 

*walks away mumbling obscenities*

[Tecate]

I’m confused.
Wouldn’t blasting salt into the atmosphere be a bad idea for it to then fall back onto the ground, killing crops and leaving the soil unusable ?

You know, the whole Romans destroying Carthage thing?

Tecate

[pianopraze]

You assume these brainwashed bung holes are capable of critical thinking. 

A fatal assumption.

[ArMaP]

I’m confused.
Wouldn’t blasting salt into the atmosphere be a bad idea for it to then fall back onto the ground, killing crops and leaving the soil unusable ?

You know, the whole Romans destroying Carthage thing?

Tecate

I think the idea is use it over the oceans, not over land.

[Tecate]

Well then, if it’s supposed to be over the ocean and not the land, how high before the jet stream takes it where it will?

As usual, it will be done under “ideal” conditions….

Right… as per usual, done in secrecy so as to deflect backlash.

I have very little faith in them being able to control/contain anything.

Tecate

[ArMaP]

Well then, if it’s supposed to be over the ocean and not the land, how high before the jet stream takes it where it will?

I don't know how they are going to do it, so I cannot answer that.

I have very little faith in them being able to control/contain anything.

I don't think they can "control" it, but knowing (more or less) how things work it's not that difficult to know where to do the spraying for it to finally fall over the ocean.

But, even if it falls over land, I suppose it depends on how much salt they use on their spray, as the idea appears (to me) to be using it on already existing clouds to make them more reflective, so I don't think the salt will be in a concentration high enough to do any damage.

[Maxmars]

Well, it is fitting that this "practical application" experiment is being conducted in San Fransisco, using quasi-military resources... because anyone else could be sued to death when it turns out to be a catastrophic idea.
 

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The move led by researchers at the University of Washington has renewed questions about how to effectively and ethically study promising climate technologies that could also harm communities and ecosystems in unexpected ways. The experiment is spraying microscopic salt particles into the air, and the secrecy surrounding its timing caught even some experts off guard.

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Secrecy indeed... it translates into "[We] don't need anyone questioning our infallible wisdom and knowledge, so best let them remain ignorant until it's over and done with."

Suffice to say they don't know how, or whether, they will be able to measure the effects, or even if there will be one.  This is a huge "let's try this" scenario... and research grants are spewing dollars by the millions over it.  I suspect that Scientific American is providing us with the usual "press release" reporting... 

Similarly, I had encountered this manner of 'quick fix' marketed science project elsewhere...
From: Farming, climate, technology... the "We know what's best!" fallacy (denyignorance.com)

(from the thread)

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"... And finally Point 6: We're not learning.

(From BGR:) The latest extreme climate change solution involves dehydrating the stratosphere

This concept seems based upon the idea that "water" in the atmosphere "acts as a greenhouse gas."  And that if we were to inject ice-forming particulates into the atmosphere we could reduce the amount of 'greenhouse effect' it produces in our climate.  
 

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This would essentially dehydrate the stratosphere, and we would only need to remove around three percent of the water vapor found in our planet’s atmosphere to start seeing a global effect, the study outlines. The researchers say that going about this solution would only provide some wins in the battle against climate change. They say there are no cons or side effects to worry about.

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"They say there are no cons or side effects to worry about." Sounds like famous last words to me.  But once it is done, and companies have extracted their profit from the exercise... they will have the standard "who knew?" response to the outcomes.

Ultimately this is why science has no place accepting inputs from activism.  The propensity for climate activism to posture itself as 'virtuous' leads to misplaced efforts and funding, ultimately slowing down real progress in our understanding of the dynamics of knowledge we haven't understood thus far. 

The main problem being that no public speaker ever seems to want to illuminate the key facts of science... A: We don't know every g-d dammed thing, and B: some of what we do know is flat out wrong, or at least incomplete.

Science isn't about "proving" things, it's about increasing the body of knowledge we have, (regardless of where that leads us.)  It is not a "feel good" PR activity, like say... activism. "

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[pianopraze]

2020: of course geoengineering is not happening.
2024: a few small tests have been done, but nothing to worry about
2030: why geoingineering helps you
2034: famine and pestilence caused by geoingineering is a conspiracy theory
2040: love one died? call now to get in on the class action lawsuit

[Kenzo]

The source wont say what element as salt .  there are many ....silver or other. I doubt they use sodium.

This is utterly stubid idea as a whole -

We are most likely heading to cold era anyway ? so any aerosols up there would only make ground more colder, a negative thing to me.

[ArMaP]

Secrecy indeed... it translates into "[We] don't need anyone questioning our infallible wisdom and knowledge, so best let them remain ignorant until it's over and done with."

Or to "we don't really know what we are doing, so we prefer nobody knows about it unless it's a success".

(From BGR:) The latest extreme climate change solution involves dehydrating the stratosphere

This concept seems based upon the idea that "water" in the atmosphere "acts as a greenhouse gas."  And that if we were to inject ice-forming particulates into the atmosphere we could reduce the amount of 'greenhouse effect' it produces in our climate.  

Not really.

What they say is that water vapour is known to act as a greenhouse gas and the idea is to try to turn some water vapour into ice on the stratosphere, no on the whole atmosphere, as implied in that text.
 

They say there are no cons or side effects to worry about.

Not true. They mention these possible effects:
- Effects of additional clouds generated by the injections, both at the altitude of interest and, potentially, at lower altitudes;
- Implications for feedback to the large-scale global circulation;
- It may affect the recovery of stratospheric ozone (in a positive, yet negligible, sense for the current climate);
- Depending on the technological approach considered to inject INP, direct emissions associated with the effort could vary tremendously but are likely to be absolutely negligible relative to global emissions.

It's the first time I see a reference to that BGR site and I don't like what I see.

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We are most likely heading to cold era anyway ? so any aerosols up there would only make ground more colder, a negative thing to me.

"Most likely" is not enough. 

Now we are getting warmer and warmer years, and the proposed "solution" is one that does not last longer than the time the salt crystals and the clouds last.