Last Updated on August 1, 2026 by Staff
Scientists think they might be able to weaken or stop El Niño, one of the Earth’s powerful climate patterns before it even starts. El Niño is a deal because it affects the whole world.
A new study from the University of Chicago used computer models to see if making clouds brighter over the Pacific Ocean could prevent El Niño from happening. The study found that if this process starts enough it could reduce the really bad weather that El Niño usually brings. This is different from ideas that try to cool down the whole planet. This research focuses on controlling El Niño by targeting an area of the Pacific Ocean. Scientists believe this could help reduce heat waves, floods and droughts that affect millions of people around the world. El Niño has an impact on the weather so scientists have been trying to find ways to predict it or make it weaker.
Understanding El Niño
El Niño is a thing that happens when the ocean water in the eastern Pacific gets too warm. It starts in one part of the world. Its effects are felt everywhere. It can cause bad droughts in Australia and parts of Asia and too much rain in East Africa and South America. It can also make the whole world warmer and disrupt farming, fishing and water supplies. Some of the expensive natural disasters in history were caused by strong El Niño events.
Scientists say that climate change, which is caused by people, is making these disasters even worse.
Because El Niño has such an impact on the weather scientists have been trying to find ways to predict it or make it weaker.
Brightening Clouds
The idea for this new research came from something unexpected. During the bushfires in Australia in 2019 and 2020 a lot of smoke went into the air. The tiny particles in the smoke made the clouds brighter which helped cool down the Pacific Ocean. This natural process even helped create a lasting La Niña, which is the opposite of El Niño.
Scientists were inspired by this. Wanted to see if they could do something similar on purpose. They proposed using ships that spray particles into the air to make the clouds brighter. These particles would help reflect sunlight from the Earth and cool down the ocean.
Computer simulations showed that starting this process in June and continuing it until February worked the best.
Promising Results
Scientists tested this idea using computer models of the El Niño events in 1997 and 1998 and 2015 and 2016. The simulations showed that making the clouds brighter could reduce the warming of the Pacific Ocean that causes El Niño.
As a result the bad weather that usually comes with El Niño was also reduced. Areas that were supposed to be hot became cooler. Areas that were supposed to get much rain became drier and areas that were supposed to be dry got more balanced weather. Scientists think that reducing the strength of El Niño could save billions of dollars and reduce the risk of weather disasters.
Even though these results are from computer simulations they are still very promising.
Challenges Ahead
Even though the results are promising, scientists say that the technology is not ready yet. The machines that spray the particles into the air are not strong enough to make a difference. Scientists think they would need around 2,400 ships to make it work. There are also concerns about what might happen if this is done for a time. While reducing El Niño could help countries it could also make some areas, like Europe and Asia warmer.
Scientists do not know what would happen if they kept making the clouds brighter, for decades.
Some people are worried that trying to control the climate could make people less likely to reduce pollution. The scientists who did the research disagree. They think that studying ways to control the climate is an idea, as long as it is done alongside reducing pollution.
They say that making the clouds brighter is not meant to replace efforts to reduce pollution but could be a tool to help reduce the worst effects of climate change.