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14 - Stratospheric Aerosol Injection

from Section IV - Solar Radiation Management

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2022

Wake Smith
Affiliation:
Harvard University, Massachusetts
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Summary

Here we grasp the tool in this side of our box with the most promise to exert a material cooling impact on the planet in the foreseeable future. It also however comes with the greatest likelihood of problematical unintended consequences. Volcanoes provide a helpful analog for how SAI might operate and demonstrate that aerosols suspended in the atmosphere can and do immediately and substantially cool the earth. The mechanics of recreating such a volcano effect in a deliberate fashion are explained and situated in both space and time. It is also noted that relative to any other climate intervention or solution, SAI would be stunningly cheap, giving rise to the prospect of the “free driver” hypothesis. In addition to exerting force upon the climate variable (temperature), it may well interfere with ones we do not, such as rainfall. The problematical dynamics of stopping such a program (“termination shock”) are explored, as are difficulties that would arise in seeking to attribute observed climate impacts in an engineered climate to their causes. SAI is presented as an enigma to be explored rather than a remedy to be implemented.

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Chapter
Information
Pandora's Toolbox
The Hopes and Hazards of Climate Intervention
, pp. 217 - 228
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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