Open AccessCan marine cloud brightening reduce coral bleaching?
Author(s) -
Latham John,
Kleypas Joan,
Hauser Rachel,
Parkes Ben,
Gadian Alan
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
atmospheric science letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.951
H-Index - 45
ISSN - 1530-261X
DOI - 10.1002/asl2.442
Subject(s) - coral bleaching , reef , coral reef , environmental science , coral , great barrier reef , sea surface temperature , oceanography , effects of global warming on oceans , global warming , climatology , climate change , atmospheric sciences , geology
Increases in coral bleaching events over the last few decades have been largely caused by rising sea surface temperatures ( SST ), and continued warming is expected to cause even greater increases through this century. We use a Global Climate Model to examine the potential of marine cloud brightening ( MCB ) to cool oceanic surface waters in three coral reef provinces. Our simulations indicate that under doubled CO 2 conditions, the substantial increases in coral bleaching conditions from current values in three reef regions (Caribbean, French Polynesia, and the Great Barrier Reef) were eliminated when MCB was applied, which reduced the SSTs at these sites roughly to their original values .