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Any attempts to engineer the climate are likely to result in "different" climate change, rather than its elimination, new results suggest. Prof Ken Caldeira, of Stanford University, presented research at a major conference on the climate risks and impacts of geoengineering. These techniques have been hailed by some as a quick fix for climate change.
But the impacts of geoengineering on oceans, the water cycle and land environments are hotly debated. They have been discussed at a meeting this week of 12,000 scientists in Vienna. Researchers are familiar with the global cooling effects of volcanic eruptions, seen both historically and even back into the deep past of the rock record. With this in mind, some here at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly ( http://www.egu2015.eu ) have been discussing the possible worldwide consequences of pumping sulphate aerosols into the stratosphere to attempt to reflect sunlight back into space and cool the planet.
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Saturday April 18 2015, @06:31PM
A lot of people fear-monger about the Sahara Desert getting larger every year. While that's true, they conveniently forget to mention that we see deserts in other areas of the world shrinking due to human intervention (such as modern irrigation techniques).
Modern irrigation techniques are usually temporary fixes. Places like the Imperial Valley are not going to be reclaimed desert forever. Watering usually results in increased alkalization of the soil and unless more and more expensive techniques are used to mitigate that the soil eventually becomes too alkaline for crops. In the long run it will be even more of a desert than before man tried to alter it.