Progress in Understanding the Potential for Cooling the Poles by Seeding Wintertime Mixed-Phase Clouds

This 22-minute conference talk by Jasper Kok explores the viability of mixed-phase cloud thinning (MCT) as a climate intervention technique for cooling polar regions. Discover how seeding wintertime mixed-phase clouds with mineral dust or other ice nucleating particles could enhance ice formation, causing clouds to thin and rain out. Learn about the research findings showing Antarctic low-level clouds are approximately 10% icier than Arctic clouds, supporting the basic hypothesis underlying MCT. Examine the estimated potential for making the wintertime Southern Ocean about 8% icier with similar dust levels to the Arctic, and the implications for surface cooling. The presentation also covers progress in accurately representing aerosol concentrations in the Arctic and compares the climate impact of wintertime polar cooling through MCT with the primarily summertime cooling generated by polar-focused stratospheric aerosol injection.