Salt spray.

On Tuesday, scientists tested a machine specifically designed to spray aerosols of a salt solution into the air from the flight deck of a decommissioned aircraft carrier, The New York Times reports.

The project is a preliminary step in researching marine cloud brightening, a localized kind of solar geoengineering, which is controversial but is being researched due to unprecedented global warming.

Headshot of Cat Clifford

Cat Clifford

Senior Science and Economics Correspondent