Question

Injecting salt crystals over the ocean to grow cloud droplets has been proposed in efforts to make the clouds __________ thereby affecting the radiation budget.

Answer 1

Injecting salt crystals over the ocean to grow cloud droplets has been proposed in efforts to make the clouds brighter thereby affecting the radiation budget. The light of the sun shines on Earth, some of that light is reflected by the clouds back to space and some of the light reaches the earth and warms our planet. The earth and the hot oceans emit infrared radiation (IR), which we feel as heat. That IR "light"; returns to space through the atmosphere. Most are trapped by greenhouse gases, which keep the earth warm. Soon after, the IR radiation returns to space. Scientists call this "energy budget of the Earth" this cycle of incoming and outgoing energy.