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epa.gov
official
https://www.epa.gov/geoengineering/about-geoengineering
For example, geoengineering includes the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (also called Carbon Dioxide Removal – CDR) through methods such as direct air capture and storage, ocean iron fertilization, or ocean alkalinity enhancement. These activities are referred to as **Solar Geoengineering** or **Solar Radiation Modification (SRM).** Most proposed solar radiation modification techniques involve adding material to the atmosphere to increase the amount of incoming sunlight reflected back to space. Marine solar radiation management (mSRM) techniques, on the other hand, involve adding materials to ocean waters, sea ice, or the lower atmosphere to increase the amount of solar radiation reflected at or near the ocean's surface to limit surface warming or sea ice melt. * *Marine Cloud Brightening (MCB)* – adding particles, such as sea spray, to the lower atmosphere (near the surface) to increase the reflectivity of clouds over the ocean. Another subset of geoengineering activities intends to cool the Earth by intentionally modifying the concentration of certain gases in the atmosphere, including carbon dioxide.
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gao.gov
official
https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-26-108837
Solar geoengineering seeks to cool Earth’s temperature by reflecting incoming sunlight back into space, but effects on the environment and public health are uncertain. * Solar geoengineering methods might mitigate Earth’s rising temperatures, but effects are highly uncertain. * More research and field testing of solar geoengineering methods would improve understanding of effects. **What is it?** Solar geoengineering, also referred to as solar radiation modification, includes several proposed methods to reflect sunlight back into space. **How does it work?** Two atmospheric methods of solar geoengineering are generally considered the most feasible and cost effective. Other experiments, including one in the U.S., have been cancelled due to public concerns about safety or the ethics of solar geoengineering use. * **Unknown consequences.** Potentially harmful effects on human health and the environment from solar geoengineering use have been identified but are poorly understood. * What information is needed to inform public policy discussions about the use of solar geoengineering, such as the effects and ethical implications, and how might policymakers facilitate its collection?
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annualreviews.org
research
https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-environ-112321…
### Annual Review of Environment and Resources. *Annual Review Environment and Resources*. Solar geoengineering, also called sunlight reflection or solar radiation modification (SRM), is a potential climate response that would cool the Earth's surface and reduce many other climate changes by scattering on order 1% of incoming sunlight back to space. SRM can only imperfectly correct for elevated greenhouse gases, but it might complement other climate responses to reduce risks, while also bringing new risks and new challenges to global governance. As climate alarm and calls for effective near-term action mount, SRM is attracting sharply increased attention and controversy, with many calls for expanded research and governance consultations along with ongoing concerns about risks, misuse, or overreliance. We review SRM's history, methods, potential uses and impacts, and governance needs, prioritizing the approach that is most prominent and promising, stratospheric aerosol injection. ## Environmental Governance. #### Related Articles from Annual Reviews. knowable magazine from Annual Reviews. knowable magazine from Annual Reviews. Climate Resource Center, Article Collection from Annual Reviews. Climate Resource Center, Article Collection from Annual Reviews.
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climate.gov
official
https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/solar-radiation-m…
**Solar Radiation Modification (SRM) refers to deliberate, large-scale actions intended to decrease global average surface temperatures by increasing the reflection of sunlight away from the Earth.** Proposed SRM methods involve the use of aerosols (small particles) or other materials to increase the reflectivity of the atmosphere, clouds, or Earth’s surface. **Long-term protection of Earth’s climate and oceans requires substantial reductions in emissions and atmospheric concentrations of CO2 and other GHGs. SRM is not considered a substitute for climate mitigation efforts, which include decarbonization and GHG emission cuts.** SRM research is being conducted as a response to growing concerns that the pace of CO2 emissions reductions and CDR technology development is not sufficient to avoid severe impacts of climate change in the next decades. **Many of the processes most important for understanding SRM approaches—such as those that control the formation of clouds and aerosols—are among the most uncertain components of the climate system.** Climate models differ in simulating large-scale aerosol climate effects, including on surface temperatures, due to variations in how aerosol processes, atmospheric transport and mixing, and physics are represented.
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ciel.org
article
https://www.ciel.org/issue/geoengineering/
These methods range from reflecting sunlight to removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. These highly speculative technologies cannot be a substitute for or
S
salatainstitute.harvard.edu
research
https://salatainstitute.harvard.edu/research-initiatives/the-harvard-solar-ge…
The Harvard Solar Geoengineering Research Program (SGRP) aims to reduce uncertainties surrounding solar geoengineering; generate critical science, technology, and policy insights; and help inform the public debate surrounding this controversial idea. Recognizing that solar geoengineering could not be a replacement for reducing emissions or adapting to climate impacts, SGRP draws on Harvard’s research capabilities and global convening power to provide the knowledge necessary in considering solar geoengineering as a supplement to broader mitigation and adaptation efforts. The Harvard Solar Geoengineering Research Program (SGRP) aims to reduce uncertainties surrounding solar geoengineering; generate critical science, technology, and policy insights; and help inform the public debate surrounding this controversial idea. Recognizing that solar geoengineering could not be a replacement for reducing emissions or adapting to climate impacts, SGRP draws on Harvard’s research capabilities and global convening power to provide the knowledge necessary in considering solar geoengineering as a supplement to broader mitigation and adaptation efforts. * In 1980, Professor Tom Schelling chaired a National Academy of Sciences committee whose report, *Changing Climate*, addressed the potential for solar geoengineering to counter global warming.
U
ucs.org
article
https://www.ucs.org/resources/what-solar-geoengineering
But because they may not be enough to avoid substantial climate disruption, some researchers are also looking to better understand the risks and benefits of solar geoengineering. Solar geoengineering would not address the root cause of climate change: emissions of heat-trapping gases, mostly from the burning of fossil fuels. Because solar geoengineering has global implications, its consideration as a climate response requires effective international governance. Solar geoengineering could limit some harmful climate impacts. To better understand the potential and risks of solar geoengineering, researchers should use computer modeling and monitor the climatic impacts of events such as volcanic eruptions. At the same time, UCS strongly opposes stratospheric tests of solar geoengineering technologies at a scale that could have a measurable impact on Earth’s surface climate. * Funding for solar geoengineering experiments comes only from governments and other entities that support mitigation and adaptation as the first-line solutions to climate change, and.
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carbonbrief.org
article
https://www.carbonbrief.org/explainer-six-ideas-to-limit-global-warming-with-…
However, research shows that using solar geoengineering could indirectly lower the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere by stemming permafrost melt, reducing energy-sector emissions and causing changes to the carbon-cycle feedback. Aerosol injection could have an edge on other proposed forms of solar geoengineering because it would not require a large technological leap to become a reality, Jones says:. These brighter clouds would reflect away more sunlight, says Prof Douglas MacMartin, an engineering researcher from Cornell University, who contributed to the US House of Representatives’ hearing on geoengineering. Earlier this month, MacMartin, Keith and Prof Katharine Ricke, a climate scientist from the University of California, San Diego, published a research paper exploring how solar geoengineering – via releasing aerosols into the stratosphere – could be used as part of an “overall strategy” for limiting global warming to 1.5C, which is the aspirational target of the Paris Agreement. However, the researchers point out that using solar geoengineering to hold global warming to 1.5C would not have the same environmental effect as reaching the target using mitigation.