Ship emissions help form low-lying, highly reflective clouds over the ocean known as “ship tracks.” FSU’s Michael Diamond is studying these aerosols and whether technology can harness the process to reduce some impacts of climate change. “The clouds that are forming right next to the ship tracks compared to the clouds that are forming in the ship track are experiencing the same weather state, so any changes we see in the clouds, we can attribute to the pollution itself,” Diamond says.

The team will analyze thousands of ship tracks captured by satellites. They will also use computer models to extend their findings, investigating what sort of clouds would form if ships emitted salt particles instead of sulfur or carbon. Spraying salt water into the atmosphere to seed clouds, a proposal called marine cloud brightening, is a potential tool for lowering global temperatures.

• Michael Diamond