What methods can be used to cool the atmosphere and reduce the impact of climate change? This is what a recent study published in Earth’s Future hopes to address as an international team of researchers investigated how aircraft could potentially be used for stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI), which is designed to mitigate the impact of climate change using aerosols. This study has the potential to help researchers, climate scientists, and the public better understand scientific methods that can be employed to mitigate climate change without causing further harm to the environment.
For the study, the researchers used a series of computer models to analyze 41 simulations depicting SAI using aircraft at a variety of altitudes and latitudes worldwide. The goal was to ascertain the optimal altitude and latitude to achieve maximum effectiveness in global cooling without potential side effects, such as worsening climate change.
In the end, the researchers found that SAI is most effective when conducting annual dispersals at 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) and latitudes of 30°N/S. In contrast, the researchers found that SAI is least effective using seasonal dispersals at 13 kilometers and 30°N/S achieved only 35 percent of the former’s dispersals while also contributing to potentially worsening climate change.
“Solar geoengineering comes with serious risks and much more research is needed to understand its impacts,” said Alistair Duffey, who is a PhD student at the University of College London’s Department of Earth Sciences and lead author of the study. “However, our study suggests that it is easier to cool the planet with this particular intervention than we thought. This has implications for how quickly stratospheric aerosol injection could be started and by who.”
How will SAI help mitigate climate change in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: Earth’s Future, EurekAlert!
