California: Group of scientists covered up solar geoengineering experiment to 'avoid scaring' public

Documents obtained by E&E News from POLITICO raise new questions about a secret solar geoengineering experiment in the San Francisco Bay Area, which was backed by wealthy financiers and suspended last year.

Funding requests, texts, emails, and other records reveal the wide-ranging scope of studies aimed at counteracting global warming—research that, according to reports obtained by E&E News, has taken place largely out of public view.

In 2024, the city of Alameda ordered the University of Washington (UW) to halt the Sea Cloud Glow experiment (MCB), which it was conducting in collaboration with the USS Hornet Sea, Air & Space Museum. The study aimed to investigate how aerosol particles from natural and human sources affect cloud brightness and reflectivity.

According to documents from the University of Washington, the Alameda plan included efforts to attract public interest. The deck of the USS Hornet remained open to visitors, while the research team relied on museum staff to handle relations with city leaders and carefully controlled the information shared with the public.

"We think it's safest to get help with the air quality review and are trying to get it before we commit, but I would avoid scaring them too much," readan Aug. 23, 2023, text message sent ahead of a meeting with Hornet officials. "We want them to work largelyassuming things are on track."

When the study was suspended, the Alameda City Council issued a statement asserting that it had halted the experiment, claiming it violated the USS Hornet’s lease with the city and that officials had never been informed about the project.

"We believed our existing permits and lease covered these activities when we started," said Laura Fies, executive director of the USS Hornet, in an interview with the Alameda Post. "We are committed to working with the city to meet all of their needs."

Wall Street and Sillion Valley solar geoengineering enthusiasts.

The initial experiment was intended only as a preliminary study. According to internal documents obtained by POLITICO, through an open records request to the University of Washington, researchers were already discussing plans with donors and consultants for a potential trial involving cloud creation over 3,900 square miles off the western coasts of North America, Chile, or south-central Africa—even before the first experiment began.

"At such scales, significant cloud changes will be readily detectable from space," stated a 2023 research plan from the MCB program. The plan noted that the large-scale experiment would depend on the successful completion of the aborted pilot test on the carrier deck in Alameda. According to POLITICO, records do not reveal whether the researchers or their billionaire backers have abandoned the project.

However, in 2024, POLITICO reported that wealthy philanthropists connected to Wall Street and Silicon Valley were not going to back down after the failure of this major climate experiment, and pledged to continue funding future solar geoengineering tests as global temperatures rise.

Hiding the experiment, "a serious misstep."

Before the setback in Alameda, the UW team had already received some federal funding and hoped to gain access to government ships and aircraft, according to documents obtained by E&E News.

According to POLITICO, the researchers seemed to disregard previous lessons about securing community support for climate-related studies, instead keeping their plans hidden from the public and lawmakers until testing was already underway. Similarly, some solar geoengineering experts expressed surprise at the scale of the second experiment, E&E News reported.

"Alameda was a step toward something much bigger, and there was no engagement with local communities," said Sikina Jinnah, a professor of environmental studies at University of California, Santa Cruz. "It's a serious misstep."

Solar geoengineering poses devastating risks

Critics of these technologies have also warned that these experiments could alter weather patterns, potentially impacting agriculture, wildlife, and plants. Even if they succeed in cooling the climate, questions remain about what would happen if we decide to stop. According to Sierra magazine, if solar geoengineering were halted abruptly, the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could cause the planet to warm faster than before—a phenomenon known as termination shock.

"Solar geoengineering is not a solution to climate change. Even as an interim answer, it is risky. We should not rely on technologies that are not only theoretical, but also carry their own set of devastating dangers. Right now, our first priority should be abandoning fossil fuels. Then we can talk," says Sierra.