Solar-geoengineering faces opposition, but dozens of climate scientists say in an open letter More research is needed soon to understand the effectiveness of the technology in combating global warming It has said.
environment
February 27, 2023
Solar geoengineering has been proposed as a way to combat global warming Shutterstock/Zephyr Media
More research is needed on solar geoengineering techniques that could be used to avert dangerous climate warming, writes more than 60 researchers in an open letter published Feb. 27.
The letter, compiled by Sarah Dougherty of the University of Washington, said, “It’s important to cut emissions, but the amount of cuts we’re making today won’t reverse the warming effects of past and present greenhouse gas emissions. I can’t,” he said.
There are a number of ways to remove carbon from the atmosphere that the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has found necessary to keep warming below 2°C this century.
The letter argues that intervention through what is called “solar radiation management” is the fastest way to combat climate warming in the short term, and to understand its effectiveness and potential impacts on different regions and the planet. , says more research needs to be conducted. It states that decisions to implement any technology require “international collaborative decision-making” based on science.
“I think it’s important for the public to understand what motivates scientists to do research on this topic,” Dougherty said at a press conference.
The letter describes three different approaches to managing solar radiation, each of which “slightly modifies the energy entering and leaving the Earth,” resulting in a cooling effect.
Aerosol injection into the stratosphere involves spraying the stratosphere with light-scattering aerosols such as sulfur dioxide or calcium carbonate. Another technique, called ocean cloud brightening, adds sea salt to low-level clouds over the ocean to increase their reflectivity. Cirrus thinning adds aerosols to high-altitude cirrus clouds, reducing infrared radiation reflected to the surface.
None of these approaches have been found to be safe or effective enough to use, the letter says, and each has risks and benefits. , requires computer model simulations, observations, analytical studies and small-scale field experiments.
As of February 27, 67 researchers had signed the letter, including physicist James Hansen, best known for his congressional testimony on climate change in the 1980s. Also among the signatories were researchers from a group at Harvard University, whose planned solar-geoengineering-related experiments were canceled when they were opposed in Sweden.
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