So might we need to try a different route - geoengineering? We could for example reflect more solar radiation back into space by making more reflective
A Solar Geoengineering Experiment | Can We Cool the Planet? · The Effects of Atmospheric Particles on Climate · Killer Volcanoes | Ash
Solar geoengineering might help lower temps, but it's a controversial approach. Subscribe and turn on notifications so you don't miss any
By substituting their cooling effect by deploying stratospheric aerosol geoengineering we can have cleaner air without the extra warming.
A technique to cool the planet, in which particles are added to the atmosphere to reflect sunlight, would not require developing special aircraft but could be achieved using existing large planes, according to a new modelling study led by UCL researchers. Previously, most research has assumed that the technique, known as stratospheric aerosol injection, would be deployed in the tropics and so would require specially designed aircraft capable of flying at altitudes of 20km or more to inject the particles. For the new study, published in the journal *Earth’s Future*, scientists ran simulations of different aerosol injection strategies and concluded that adding particles 13km above the polar regions could meaningfully cool the planet, albeit much less effectively than at higher altitudes closer to the equator. The strategy is not a quick fix – any stratospheric aerosol injection would need to be introduced gradually, and reduced gradually, to avoid catastrophic impacts from sudden warming or cooling.
In our civilization’s effort to slow down and stop Climate Change and reverse Global Warming, geoengineering should not be considered the only solution, but rather an important part of a comprehensive, integrated, international program that mitigates the effects of Global Warming, restores our biosphere and addresses the root causes of Climate Change (i.e., the use of fossil fuels and carbon dioxide emissions, human population growth, consumptive lifestyles, unsustainable practices, degradation of natural ecosystems, etc.). An IPCC Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty [Masson-Delmotte, V., P. An IPCC Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty [Masson-Delmotte, V., P.
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.
One approach to cooling the Earth involves sunlight reflection methods, or “SRM,” such as adding aerosols to the stratosphere.