Scientists are preparing to darken the Sun

British scientists could test sunlight-blocking techniques to combat global warming under a £50 million government-backed programme.

In a geoengineering project to be approved in a few weeks, scientists could explore techniques such as shooting clouds of light-reflecting particles into the atmosphere or using seawater spray to make clouds brighter. Another method involves thinning out natural cirrus clouds, which act as a blanket to trap heat.

According to Independent Turkish, if the project is successful, less sunlight will reach the Earth's surface, temporarily cooling the earth.

It is considered a relatively cheap way to cool the planet, but critics warn it could cause catastrophic weather patterns and even divert rain from areas vital to food production.

Other scientists say geoengineering could undermine efforts to stop burning fossil fuels, the root cause of climate change.

The project is funded by the Agency for Advanced Research and Innovation, known as ARIA.

The UK government has allocated £50 million to the controversial experiment, but the total amount given over to taxpayers over the next four years is £800 million (approximately £41 billion).

“Decarbonisation is vital but our current trajectory risks triggering multiple temperature-driven climate tipping points,” said Professor Mark Symes, ARIA Programme Director who led the geoengineering project.

This program will explore critical and unanswered questions about how (or whether) we can cool the Earth safely and responsibly in the timeframe needed to avoid climate catastrophe.

In a paper published by ARIA last year, Symes gave examples of such tipping points, including the melting of Arctic winter sea ice, the destruction of the Amazon rainforest and the resulting loss of ecosystems, and the collapse of large land ice sheets, leading to significant global sea level rise.

The solution, Symes says, is to stop burning fossil fuels and eliminate excess greenhouse gases, but that may not happen quickly enough to prevent the onset of tipping points.

Instead, he hopes this project will help "buy us time for decarbonization."

Professor Symes says the project will not use toxic substances, an environmental impact assessment will be published before open-air trials and local communities will be consulted.

Details of the projects are expected to be released in the coming weeks.