Tiny Water Bubbles may aid in Fighting Global Warming
When most of us think of global warming, we visualize Al Gore riding that cherry picker up to the top of his global carbon emissions chart. But not Russell Seitz of the Harvard Physics Department. He sees microbubbles. Seitz is the latest to throw his hat into the ring of possible strategies to rid the planet of excess carbon and reduce global warming effects. And his idea is one of the least ludicrous plans of action to date.
Seitz plans to reproduce naturally occurring air bubbles beneath the ocean surface by adding compressed air to water and in turn mixing that with the ocean’s swirling waters. These microscopic bubbles would add to the reflectivity of the ocean’s surface, increasing global albedo and returning more solar radiation to the atmosphere.
The same strategy could apply to freshwater sources to reduce evaporation and conserve drinking water. Never mind the implications of throwing off the hydrological cycle, the main issue that Seitz sees with his own plan is that the microbubbles might be, well, too small. The bubbles will need steady supplies of organic matter to thrive on, otherwise they will shrink and disappear before reflecting any radiation.