‘Cloud brightening’ to protect Great Barrier Reef

An ambitious "cloud brightening" experiment has been carried out over Australia's Great Barrier Reef in an early-stage trial that scientists hope could become a futuristic way to protect coral from global warming. In an attempt to cool waters around the reef by making clouds reflect more sunlight, researchers said they used a boat-mounted fan similar to a snow cannon to shoot salt crystals into the air. Results from the trial were "really, really encouraging", the project's lead scientist Daniel Harrison from Southern Cross University said yesterday. "All the research is theoretical... so this an absolute world first to go out and actually try and take seawater and turn it into these cloud condensation nuclei," he told AFP.

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