Atmospheric science rarely makes front-page news. But for Kelly Wanser, Executive Director of SilverLining, the current crisis unfolding in the United States and United Kingdom should be raising alarm bells far beyond the weather-watching community.
“We’re seeing fast-moving things that mean that certain really key teams and people are starting to get cut from NOAA [the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration],” Wanser told Climate Solutions News. “And there’s a lack of clarity whether the whole laboratories that support some of these functions will be disbanded.”
In a wide-ranging, exclusive interview with Climate Solutions News, Wanser warned that without robust public monitoring infrastructure, we risk losing vital data not only for forecasting and disaster planning, but for enabling climate innovation, from AI modelling to carbon removal technologies.
From IT Networks to the Edge of Space
Wanser didn’t set out to become a climate researcher. Her career began in the world of large-scale IT systems. “My background is from IT infrastructure and networking, so looking at the operations of large scale network systems,” she explained.
But 15 years ago, she started asking questions about climate projections and how well we understand the risks. “Even if we’re really successful, the system continues to warm for several decades,” she said. “And looking at the problem and asking the question of how well can we project what that will do? How risky is that in terms of cascading changes that might make the situation beyond our ability to control?”
That line of inquiry eventually led her to found SilverLining, a non-profit dedicated to supporting research that could help bend the curve of climate risk, including studies of solar radiation modification (SRM), a field with enormous potential and equally profound uncertainty.
NOAA in Retreat
In the US, NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has long provided foundational global climate data, with capabilities unmatched elsewhere.
“NOAA is the central driver and developed a lot of the measurement tools, the research platforms, the networks, and the approaches and methodologies for measuring different aspects of the atmosphere,” said Wanser. “They’re a somewhat unique feed for standards, practices, calibration; kind of like the atomic clock of atmospheric instrument measurement.”
Today, those systems are at risk of being dismantled. “Some of these critical programs that combine this really deep technology… could be cut very abruptly in ways that are really hard to stand up again and reproduce.”
The Stratospheric Blind Spot
The stratosphere, where interventions like SRM would take place, is a particular concern. “The US has the only aircraft for research that fly in the stratosphere,” Wanser noted. “They’re configured kind of like a Lego system where they’ve put all these specialized instruments in them.”
Originally built to study the ozone hole, these aircraft are now vital for monitoring any attempts, intentional or otherwise, to manipulate atmospheric conditions. “If someone started activity in the stratosphere, we have enough information to respond, to even know whether to respond positively or negatively. And so that’s a big consideration.”
NOAA Sabre test flight at NASA Ellington Field, home of the WB57 programme. This programme is under threat.
The UK Steps Back Too
The UK Met Office, long respected for its climate modelling, has also reduced its capability. “Last year, they actually disbanded their climate-related programs,” said Wanser. “In particular, their aerosol climate research program.”
That move, which seems to have gone unnoticed publicly, came just as new shipping emissions rules took effect, rules that may have inadvertently removed reflective particles from the atmosphere, contributing to North Atlantic heating.
“You could [previously] see the shipping lanes by streaks in the clouds. And that brightness is just enough to create some cooling effects of energy pushed back to space. And it’s one of the big uncertainties that we have in what’s going on.”
Why It Matters for Climate Tech
The implications go beyond research. “AI is driven by data,” Wanser said. “This would be a big hit to all of the analytics that are looking upstream at climate and weather types of projections and risks. I mean, just full stop.”
Innovators developing tools for resilience, carbon removal or even energy siting rely on consistent, high-quality environmental data. “Since the system is less stable than it was, it’s a real problem,” she added. “It may hit a lot more industries than people think.”
SRM: What It Is, and Isn’t
Solar radiation modification aims to reflect a small percentage of sunlight back into space to cool the Earth. But it’s no silver bullet, and many scientists remain deeply sceptical. Concerns include unintended consequences, geopolitical misuse, and the risk that SRM could distract from the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Others question whether the modelling is accurate enough to justify any real-world use.
“Scientists speculate that if you increase the reflectivity of the atmosphere by 1 or 2%, you could offset 3 degrees or more of warming,” Wanser explained. That could be achieved through techniques like brightening marine clouds or releasing aerosols high in the atmosphere.
One approach involves sea salt. “Basically a salt mist from seawater, which is one of the ways clouds get made anyway,” she said. “That idea of taking a fine mist of tiny sea salt particles and wafting them up to the clouds… sounds really lovely in a way. But it has some real considerations in terms of when you brighten large patches of clouds of changing weather patterns.”
SilverLining focuses on research, not deployment. “It’s a lot like medicine… a question of efficacy and a question of side effects.”
By helping scientists improve particle generation methods and climate modelling, they aim to reduce uncertainty and expand the public’s ability to weigh options. “We do research like that… and then put all of that together and have it be available to society ideally.”
NASA image showing tracks in the sky caused by aerosols produced by ships.
A Final Note of Optimism
Despite the upheaval, Wanser sees an opening. “Like any disruption, there are opportunities,” she said. “And there are real opportunities to change some of the ways that things are done and delivered into kind of novel and more innovative ways.”
She remains hopeful that policymakers will act quickly to restore and modernise public climate science infrastructure. “We’re actually hopeful that there are real things to do quickly, both in innovation and in policy. So stay tuned.”
