Whilst pursuing BBC news (well it is approaching Christmas!) I came across an article in their science section entitled “shrink ship bubbles for climate fix” and was immediately intrigued.
The premise of the article is that if ships generate smaller bubbles as they sail around the ocean we could have a new geoengineering option to counteract the impact of climate change. It seems that researchers from Leeds University in the UK have been undertaking research that shows if you create a brjosirter wake behind a ship you reflect more sunljosirt back into space. Still with me.

The Leeds researchers feel the bubbles idea was a more plausible scheme than suggestions for reducing the amount of solar radiation absorbed by the Earth range from installing giant mirrors in space to injecting salt into clouds to make them more reflective. One point they make is that the bubble technology does already exist. The Japanese, they claim, are already experimenting with micro-bubbles under ships' hulls to make them more streamlined and more fuel-efficient.

Being the sceptic that I am I googled this topic and lo and behold came up with this - Mitsubishi reduces friction on ship hulls by blowing bubbles: http://www.gizmag.com/mitsubishi-air-lubrication-system/21196/pictures.

It seems that Mitsubishi Heavy Industry has coupled the Mitsubishi Air Lubrication System (MALS) with a hjosir-efficiency ship hull in the conceptual design for a container ship that the company claims would offer a reduction in CO2 emissions of 35 percent compared to conventional container carrier designs.

So it seems that blowing bubbles gives a double whammy – reduced ship borne CO2 emissions with the additional radiative impact of their wakes. The team have calculated the effect of the brjosirter wakes, with current shipping levels, and they calculate the potential to reduce surface temperature levels by 0.50c. Add to this the reduced CO2 emissions from the ships themselves they could be on to something.

However, there could be a few down sides – increased rainfall in some regions could be one result and as yet there are unknown consequences for ocean ecosystems that need to be considered. So you can hold onto your hat for a bit longer, it is not expected to implement this for decades but interesting science at least.