This year, a trial is being run to see if using technology to deflect the sun could help cool the planet. Meanwhile, another scientist hopes to spray sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere to reduce global temperatures. These are just some of the innovative trials taking place to curb the effects of global warming until greater decarbonization is seen. The question now is whether these geoengineering, delay-oriented technologies will have a significant effect on global warming, as a mid-term control measure, or whether they present a major risk to a meaningful green transition.
Geoengineering refers to deliberate, large-scale interventions in Earth's natural systems to counteract climate change or mitigate its effects. These interventions are typically split into two groups, carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and solar radiation management (SRM). The CDR approach focuses on removing carbon dioxide from the Earth’s atmosphere, using technologies such as carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies and ocean geoengineering, as well as afforestation activities. Meanwhile, SRM uses technologies to reflect a portion of the sun's energy away from Earth, aimed at lowering the Earth’s temperature.
In April, scientists from the University of Washington conducted the first outdoor SRM technology test in the U.S. The trial, in San Francisco Bay, saw a machine expel a fine mist of tiny aerosol particles hundreds of feet in the air, across the flight deck of a decommissioned aircraft carrier. The aim was to create the correct size salt aerosols in an open-air environment to achieve cloud brightening – changing the composition of the clouds above the world’s oceans – to temporarily reduce the temperature on Earth.
This is not the only SRM experiment taking place, as many other scientists and institutions strive to delay the impact of global warming until meaningful decarbonization takes place. David Keith, who leads a Climate Systems Engineering Initiative at the University of Chicago, believes he can help reduce the Earth’s temperature by using sulfur dioxide. Keith cites the global cooling effects of the sulfur dioxide spewed out by volcanoes as the impetus for his experiment. In 1991, Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines released 17 million tons of sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere, which reflected sunlight away from the Earth. This created a decrease in average temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere by roughly one degree Fahrenheit in the following year. Keith now believes that a similar reaction can be achieved artificially to help delay global warming.
Unlike the localized San Francisco Bay experiment, Keith’s approach would not be limited to a specific area, rather, it would be used in the stratosphere, which could influence the temperature worldwide. While this could provide an effective means of lowering global temperatures, scientists are uncertain of the knock-on effects on weather systems around the globe. Further, the sulfur dioxide being pumped into the stratosphere would eventually fall to earth, which could cause respiratory problems. David Suzuki, a Canadian environmentalist, suggested, “The whole notion of spraying sulphur compounds to reflect sunlight is arrogant and simplistic… There are unintended consequences of powerful technologies like these, and we have no idea what they will be.”
Many scientists are now using geoengineering technologies to curb the effects of global warming to buy time while governments attempt to decarbonize their economies. However, there is widespread criticism over the use of SMR technologies, due to concerns about artificially altering the Earth’s temperature, as well as discouraging the decarbonization that ultimately needs to take place. Similar criticism has been seen over the use of CCS technologies, which, it is argued, give oil and gas companies an excuse to keep pumping fossil fuels for longer.
Nevertheless, SMR and CCS technologies are receiving huge amounts of funding from private companies and governments worldwide. The White House has pumped billions into various geoengineering and CCS in recent years, and several other political leaders around the globe are doing the same. However, some regions of the world are approaching geoengineering with caution. The EU called for a thorough analysis of the risks of geoengineering last year, suggesting that international regulations should be established for the eventual deployment of the technology.
While there is great optimism around the possible success of SMR technologies, there are major concerns about their potential impact on the world’s weather systems. Localized SMR systems are unlikely to be very harmful, but they could lead the way to more advanced geoengineering systems being used on a larger scale. This suggests the need for the creation of international standards and regulations for the geoengineering industry before an experiment is allowed to take place that may have an impact on global weather systems. It is also important that governments do not allow these types of technologies to detract from long-term decarbonization efforts, by allowing companies to ignore pressure to support a meaningful green transition.
By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com
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In summer, many farms and ranches depend on rain to get water for crops or grass. Not as many are irrigated as one might think. When we get moisture conditions in summer that might contribute to rainfall, it is almost always dependent upon solar power from the sun to get the thunderstorms going. I, and many of you too probably, have seen storm clouds brewing and maybe even get a little light precipitation until the storm grows high enough that winds higher up blow off the top and spread a thin cloud over the building clouds shading out the sun and the would-be storm cloud is shaded out, it simply disintegrates. This causes the water vapor to remain in the atmosphere rather than dropping out as rain. This has two major effects. It keeps more water vapor in the atmosphere warming it up, and it the major droughts that comes with it causes crops to fail and livestock to go hungry. This will leave people to go hungry if was to be expanded to cover large enough areas.
In saw it happen in 1984 and I have seen it happen in the last two years. In the 1984 drought it was obviously natural, and it was repeated often enough to be an undeniable pattern. The last two years (2022 and 2023) was also a major drought. Many times I saw clouds build up, get shaded out, and just fall apart. This time it was what some refer to as chemtrails. I am not here to discuss what they were, just relate to you my experience of seeing what happened. Each time the streams, jet exhausts, whatever you want to call them, showed up in there predictable triangle patterns behind planes flying those patterns, the water vapor stayed in the air causing things to get much hotter, and it was a major disaster for crops and grasses dying in my area.
Losing the plant life also made things hotter.
When the trails don't shade out the clouds, at least some of us would get rain.
It is pretty easy to see that causing this water vapor to build higher and higher will eventually come down in floods causing the very kinds of things blamed on manmade climate change and it is - just not the way that we are used to hearing
You magnify this, and many of us are gonna get awful hungry after while.
If this was simple exhaust, it needs cleaned up. It was not the natural vapor trail I have been watching for 60 years.
Just another mention as a side-bar, those "exhausts" smell similar to vanilla abstract, and radar many times shows heavy rains where there are none when this is happening.
I saw and I know it happens. I hope and have reason to believe some of you out there can explain why (I always like to learn new things) without giving us the baloney we usually here from political figures and actors.
I will definitely check here for responses.
Thank you.