Study Evaluates Geoengineering Hazards
11 January 2026 | ZEROGeoengineering.com| The effects of marine cloud brightening (MCB) and stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) were discussed in the article, “A hard look at geoengineering reveals global risks.” Both geoengineering methods “involve releasing aerosols into the atmosphere; the difference is in what type, and how high up.”
The authors focused on geoengineering impacts on the ocean’s climate cycles, specifically the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), which has significant implications on atmospheric circulation and global weather patterns. Negative consequences of MCB include less rainfall, resulting in drier and windier conditions in the sky. Effects of SAI–blocking sunlight from reaching the Earth–reduces photosynthesis which leads to decreased crop production, forest growth, and marine algae.
, , , , , , et al. (2025). Subtropical marine cloud brightening suppresses the El Niño–Southern Oscillation. Earth’s Future, 13, e2025EF006522. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025EF006522
“…MCB increases cloud albedo, which cools the subtropical eastern Pacific and triggers a loss of moist static energy. This cooling promotes atmospheric subsidence, dries the tropical Pacific, and intensifies the trade winds. The ultimate effect is a dramatic reduction in all air‐sea feedback processes operating during ENSO, which we demonstrate using a mixed‐layer heat budget. This contrast between the MCB and SAI impacts on ENSO shows that the choice of climate intervention strategy used to mitigate global warming has drastic regional implications.”
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