Clouds above a body of water.
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Editors’ Highlights are summaries of recent papers by AGU’s journal editors.
Source: AGU Advances

The albedo change of marine clouds is achieved by targeted additions of aerosols, and in particular, sea salt. To assess the viability of Marine Cloud Brightening (MCB) requires a fundamental understanding of the impact of aerosols on cloud evolution and properties, and on the cloud environment.

Doherty et al. [2026] propose a framework for studying MCB across scales. This includes small- to large-scale studies aimed at systematically characterizing the life-cycle of aerosols and the diurnal cycle of cloud processes, how these change with the magnitude, duration and type of aerosol applied, and monitoring potential harmful direct or indirect consequences of aerosol injection, such as regional changes in temperature or precipitation.

Possible configuration for a Stage III study for measuring local scale cloud responses to a single plume of generated sea salt aerosol sized for marine cloud brightening. Credit: Doherty et al. [2026], Figure 4

Citation: Doherty, S. J., Diamond, M. S., Wood, R., & Hirasawa, H. (2026). Defining scales of field studies and experiments to assess marine cloud brightening. AGU Advances,7, e2025AV001939. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025AV001939

—Ana P. Barros, Editor, AGU Advances

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