Cao et al. (2026) Effect of regional marine cloud brightening on land climate

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Environmental Research Letters
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-03-13
• Authors: Long Cao, Yu Fang, Jiu Jiang
• DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/ae51a8

Research Groups

Not available from the provided abstract.

Short Summary

This study uses the CESM Earth system model to investigate the land climate consequences of regional Marine Cloud Brightening (MCB), finding that while MCB stabilizes global temperature and offers benefits like reduced drought stress and increased GPP, its abrupt termination leads to severe and rapid land warming with significant ecological risks.

Objective

• To examine the land climate consequences of regional Marine Cloud Brightening (MCB) implemented under an SSP2-4.5 background scenario.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Regional application of Marine Cloud Brightening (MCB) over 5% of the global ocean area most susceptible to brightening, with analysis of land climate consequences across global land areas.
• Temporal Scale: Projections from year 2031 to year 2100, including analysis of a decade following an abrupt termination of MCB.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: CESM Earth system model
• Data sources: Model simulations

Main Results

• MCB deployment stabilizes global mean temperature at approximately 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels under the SSP2-4.5 background scenario.
• MCB cools most land areas, with heterogeneous regional responses in precipitation, soil moisture, and direct and diffuse solar radiation.
• By the middle of the century, MCB reduces drought stress (measured by SPEI) over 55% of the land area relative to the SSP2-4.5 scenario.
• By year 2100, MCB increases sunlit and shaded terrestrial Gross Primary Production (GPP) by 4% and 3% respectively, relative to SSP2-4.5.
• An abrupt termination of MCB results in a mean land warming rate approximately four times greater than the SSP scenario without MCB in the following decade.
• Upon termination, many regions experience warming rates exceeding 1 °C per decade.
• MCB termination would subject more than 90% of global land area to a temperature velocity surpassing 2 km per year, posing significant risks to species adaptation.

Contributions

• Demonstrates that regional implementation of MCB would have widespread and complex climate effects over land, extending beyond the direct brightening regions.
• Quantifies the potential benefits of MCB on land climate, such as drought reduction and GPP increase.
• Highlights the severe and far-reaching risks associated with an abrupt termination of MCB, particularly rapid land warming and high temperature velocities, which are critical for policy and risk assessment.

Funding

Not available from the provided abstract.

Citation

@article{Cao2026Effect,
  author = {Cao, Long and Fang, Yu and Jiang, Jiu},
  title = {Effect of regional marine cloud brightening on land climate},
  journal = {Environmental Research Letters},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1088/1748-9326/ae51a8},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ae51a8}
}