Researchers John Latham of the University of Manchester and Stephen Salter of the University of Edinburgh have created a cloud making machine to help counter global warming. The yachts create clouds by spraying sea water into the air in efforts to increase the reflectivity of the clouds covering the ocean. This reflectivity is essential to “bouncing back” solar energy into space, reducing the overall heat of the ocean itself. These turbine powered machines would only be controlled via GPS. They would feature spinning vertical cylinders, not sails. Each boat would cost 500 million dollars to manufacture, however, this may be worth it as it has been estimated that only 3% increase in cloud reflectivity is needed to counter the world’s CO2 emissions.

While hopeful, this new technology is also extremely controversial. Many worry over the unknown consequences of changing the composition of cloud mass by increasing the salt content. Others argue this is not a solution, but just a temporary “cover up”. Nonetheless these yachts are being looked into further as yet another way to counteract the global climate issues.