Introduction: The Climate Triad and Albedo’s Critical Role
To follow up my blog post from last month about the Climate Triad, I think it is supremely important to expand further on the dangers of decreasing Albedo; the threat to all of us, and potential solutions.
Albedo is the fraction of sunlight that Earth’s surface reflects back into space. This is a deceptively simple measure, yet vital for regulating global temperature. Surfaces like fresh snow and ice have high albedo, efficiently reflecting solar energy. While forests, dark oceans, and asphalt all absorb heat.
The Feedback Loop: Declining Albedo and Accelerating Warming
With our current load of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, ice and snow are diminishing globally. This is particularly alarming in the Arctic and Northern climes. The expanding heat absorbing darker ocean surfaces, and woodlands no longer covered in snow, all contribute to lowering global albedo, accelerating warming.
In the Arctic, temperatures soared 3X that of other more temperate parts of the globe. Arctic temperatures of 33°C (91°F for us Americans) for 2024-2025 have been reported. This is primarily due to feedback from declining albedo. This feedback loop amplifies global warming and climate change.
As I stated in my previous post, restoring some of the earth’s lost albedo will slow our collective march over the cliff of climate change. Artificially restoring albedo can give us a little more breathing space to solve the problem of historical emissions already in our atmosphere. More time, more funding, and breakthrough international cooperation is needed for Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) and carbon market efforts to take hold. In the meantime, there are methodologies being researched to restore some of our lost albedo.
Restoring Albedo: Innovative Approaches
Solar Radiation Modification (SRM) is a set of methodologies thar can help restore albedo. This set of activities includes several proposed actions. Pumping ocean water back onto existing sea ice is one. As the pumped ocean water freezes, it makes the ice thicker and more permanent. Yet, it is a monumental challenge to scale this process. Real Ice, a U.K. research company involved in such a project, says that this albedo restoring process will help protect the vital Arctic ecosystem and wildlife that depend on sea ice.
Another technique is Marine Cloud Brightening (MCB) currently being studied at the University of Washington and elsewhere. Spraying atomized sea water into shallow marine clouds makes them more reflective. This technique can manage temperatures and protect coral reefs locally through regional cooling. There are concerns for large-scale deployment. Would large-scale deployment create any harmful shifts in global weather patterns? Could new heat risks increase in other areas not undergoing this treatment? Given this is temporary in nature, what happens when we stop?
Surface-based strategies include whitening rooftops and even mountaintops with reflective paint. Other surface-base potential albedo enhancements include covering deserts with reflective sheets, and clearing boreal forests in snow-covered regions to expose higher-albedo ground. Yet, clearing forests isn’t really recommended by Evergreen Carbon. Agricultural land management offers other potential options, such as planting crop varieties with higher albedo. Studies suggest that increasing crop albedo by as little as 0.1% can reduce heatwave frequency and lower regional temperatures. The Arctic Ice Project is a helpful resource to learn more about albedo restoration.
Risks and Uncertainties: Navigating Geoengineering Challenges
These and other procedures are being discussed and researched amongst the world’s climate scientists. Though some of the unintended consequences are not yet fully understood, it is imperative that we go forward. These albedo restoring techniques are increasingly more important and should be rolled out. Research and trials need to continue, despite any unreasoned fear of “geoengineering”. We all know the consequences of not taking action. In this time of climate emergency, the precautionary principal may not be the correct guiding principal for albedo restoration. Moreover, an agreed upon decision-making risk analysis framework will provide support, and perhaps even political cover for funding of new pilot projects and wide-scale deployments of promising technologies.
The Case for Action: Overcoming Political Inertia
It is Business as Usual that put us into this predicament. Human activity has increased the amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere by 1,800 gigatons since the industrial revolution, with 45% of these emissions only since the year 2000. Since we’ve been burning coal for heat, collectively, we have been unwitting participants in an uncontrolled global geoengineering experiment for the last 150 years.
It’s high time we declared this “experiment” a failure, with the legacy of increased global temperatures, now pushing a 1.5°C. This is a value that was once far-off, denoting a safe (safer, at least) level of climate change. We’re here today, noting that the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reports that we’re at 1.55°C. Together, working to restore some of the earth’s lost albedo will give us more time to scale carbon dioxide removal, and to more fully decarbonize human activity.
Conclusion
There are solutions to try and political inertia to overcome. We need to bring the albedo discussion into the light, so to speak. Albedo increasing pilot programs need to be accelarated, and political discussions on albedo need to happen at the COP, in the halls of EU governance, and in all global forums. We’re already in a high risk situation, and it will take a certain amount of acceptable risk to address the growing climate change threat, and create effective programs to reduce global warming.