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Scientists are considering the possibility of climate engineering via aerosol injection
In a new paper published in Environmental Research Letters [open, DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/aae98d] researchers discuss the potential to use what is known as stratospheric aerosol injection (or SAI) to help cool the Earth over a long period of time. This "solar geoengineering" effort would take a long time to plan and put into action, but the authors of the work suggest that it is indeed possible.
"While we don't make any judgement about the desirability of SAI, we do show that a hypothetical deployment program starting 15 years from now, while both highly uncertain and ambitious, would be technically possible strictly from an engineering perspective," Dr. Gernot Wagner of Harvard said in a statement. "It would also be remarkably inexpensive, at an average of around $2 to 2.5 billion per year over the first 15 years."
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 27 2018, @07:52AM (3 children)
How would it affect photosynthesis which is the mechanism of sequestering atmospheric CO2?
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/ContentFeature/CarbonCycle/images/carbon_cycle.jpg [nasa.gov]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 27 2018, @09:35AM
1. Kill Earth.
2. Sell overpriced Mars real estate.
3. Profit!
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday November 27 2018, @12:44PM
Ocean based algae evolve and adapt on an annual cycle, they should respond to the changes remarkably quickly, just as they did during the Maunder Minimum and countless other atmospheric obscura cycles gone by.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Wednesday November 28 2018, @02:39AM
More to the point, without sufficient photosynthesis, what do we eat??
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.