Maryland Man Believes He Can Slow Global Warming

A Maryland man thinks water can save the world. Ron Ace wants to do it by spraying huge amounts of water into the air.

Ace believes his idea will cool the Earth. Cooler temperatures would slow or stop global climate change, Ace thinks.

Scientists are worried that humans are causing higher temperatures. The main cause of higher temperatures is the burning of fossil fuels.

Higher temperatures are believed to be causing changes in the climate. The changes could make life difficult for people. Some plants and animals would die or move to other parts of the world.

"The Earth has a giant air-conditioning problem," Ace said. He said his plan would be a way to control temperatures.

Ace told the McClatchy News Service that at least 1,000 places should be chosen to spray water. The water would be sprayed between 20 and 200 feet into the air.

Plan is to spray tons of seawater into the air
Thousands of tons of seawater would be sprayed for years at a time.

The 1,000 sites would he picked after more studies. They would be mostly in the Northern Hemisphere. Temperatures are cooler in the Northern Hemisphere.

Ace says he would avoid the humid tropic parts of the globe. He says water turns to rain too quickly in the humid tropics for his plan to work

The water would evaporate. That process requires heat. The water vapor would rise above the Earth. The vapor would condense into clouds.

The clouds would help in several ways. They would cool the Earth by reflecting sunlight. They would later turn into rains. The rains would provide another way of cooling the Earth.

Ace's plan has gotten some support from a limited scientific study. Kenneth Caldeira is a climate scientist. He works at the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University in California.

Caldeira tested some of Ace's figures on a computer program. The computer model is used by top scientists to study global climate change. The model showed that the plan might work.

More tests are planned in 2009, Caldeira said. Ideas like Ace's should be considered carefully and with an open mind, Caldeira said.

"Every brilliant invention in the history of technology looked a little bit loony when first proposed," Caldeira said.