Solar geoengineering could halve global warming, say scientists

Solar geoengineering has been the subject of increasing debate in recent years as a possible way to combat climate change. A group of scientists said the appropriate amount of solar geoengineering could halve global warming while minimizing side effects.

The study published in Nature Climate Change "Halving Warming with Idealized Solar Geoengineering Mitigates Key Climate Risks". Solar geoengineering is the concept of sending aerosols into the atmosphere to reflect the sun and reduce global warming.

Scientists from Harvard, MIT and Princeton have been working on this study, which shows that if solar geoengineering was applied with the goal of halving global warming – rather than using enough energy to clean up the heat, it was not enough to use it. Aerosols to try to completely offset all the warming – there could be overall benefits without the presumption of extreme side effects. These side effects include extreme temperatures, extreme precipitation and a disturbed water cycle.

The researchers used a high-resolution climate model to simulate the scenario. According to this model, scientists say that less than 0.4% of the Earth's surface would suffer these side effects. The rest of the world would benefit from lower temperatures, fewer cyclones and less extreme rainfall.

Scientists see a promise

"The places where solar geoengineering exacerbated climate change were the ones that experienced the least amount of climate change in the first place," said Peter Irvine, a postdoctoral researcher at SEAS (Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences) and lead author of the study. # 39; study. Irvine was also quoted in the Harvard publication:

"Previous work had assumed that solar geoengineering would inevitably lead to winners and losers, with some regions suffering greater damage; our work challenges this hypothesis. We are seeing a significant reduction in climate risk as a whole, without increasing risks for all regions. "

David Keith, Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics at SEAS and lead author of the study, said:

"This study takes a big step forward by using the climatic variables most relevant to human impacts and concludes that no region defined by the IPCC is compounded by one." key indicators of climate impact. Large uncertainties remain, but climate models suggest that geoengineering could generate surprisingly uniform benefits. "

Scientists note that it is a "simplified experience", but they see promising results in what they have found. Irvine has compared solar geoengineering to a drug treating high blood pressure. He said,

"An overdose would be harmful, but a well-chosen dose may reduce your risk. Of course, it's better not to have high blood pressure at first, but once you've had it, in addition to making healthier lifestyle choices, it's worth considering treatments that could reduce your blood pressure. risks. "

Electrek's Take

As the effects of climate change worsen, the demand for human-made solutions will continue to grow. Emissions reduction and the transition to green energy are important pieces of the puzzle, but radical action may be needed in the future.

Pushing a quantity of aerosols into the atmosphere to reduce warming does not seem to be the most cautious idea. Much more research is needed and the effective deployment of aerosols would require a gradual and comprehensive effort. This will certainly not happen any time soon.

But even scientists studying geoengineering see it as a way to complement other efforts – not a total solution. And the first research is promising. What do you think?