Climatewire | A proposal for futuristic geoyngenier could be easier to achieve in the real world than scientists previously thought.
New research suggests that a planet cooling strategy known as solar radiation management is already possible with existing commercial aircraft. Until now, many experts suggested that technology would probably require specialized aircraft at high altitude. And assembling a fleet large enough of these machines could have a decade or more.
The new study, published Monday in the scientific journal The future of the earth, The case that solar geoyngeniery is currently a hypothetical strategy, could overcome the obstacle of the vehicle without a great technological leap.
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But the concept remains deeply controversial between scientists and climatic activists. And the authors of the new study warned that the strategy needs more study before world leaders advance.
“We need to know more, we need to do more research,” said the main study author Alistair Duffey, a Ph.D. Student at University College London, in an interview with Policro News. “There are great risks and great uncertainties that require a concerted effort of the research community to address before it makes sense to make a child of opinion about doing this in the real world.”
Most climate experts agree that solar geo -ngery is not a substitute to reduce emissions, he added. Elimination eliminating fossil fuels and curbing greenhouse gases remains the main strategies to address climate change.
Thus, solar geoyngenier is gaining global attention, both of defenders and critics, as land temperatures increase.
World leaders so far have not been able to stop greenhouse gases at the necessary speed to align with the international climatic objectives of the Paris Agreement. Some defenders argue that any flower geoingenier could become a necessary strategy to cool the planet, and that researchers must continue studying their potential.
But other experts warn that they focus too much on geoyngineering could distract world leaders from their progress in the reduction of emissions. And some care that it may be the risk that a country or company becomes dishonest and tries a large -scale geoingenier project without global cooperation.
The new study does not present any argument for or against geoengineering as climate intervention. Instead, explore scientific questions related to technology that would require the project, if it ever reached that stage.
The most commonly discussed form of geo -en -geo -ENERY hinges in a strategy known as solar aerosol injection, spraying the parts that reflect the parts in the atmosphere to transfer sunlight away from the planet. Previous studies have suggested that this strategy would work better at very high altitudes, where particles have the longest life in the atmosphere. At lower altitudes, they are less effective and fall out of the air faster.
The investigation suggests that the most effective height for particle spray is about 12.5 miles above the surface of the earth. But most existing aircraft cannot fly to that altitude. That means that any future operation of large -scale geoengineering would require a requirement of special design plans, which could take years to develop.
But the new study suggests that effective geo -ngealry could still be possible at lower altitudes.
Using a computer model designed to simulate the land system, Duffey and its Creamleages carried out a series of experiments that collect the effects of aerosol injections in different altitudes, latitudes and times of the year.
They discovered that the conditions for spraying of low altitude were more favorable closer to the poles of the Earth, where the form and thickness of the Earth’s atmosphere are slightly different from the one that is closest to Ecuador. They also found that spring and summer are the best seasons, when there are more sunlight so that the particles reflect.
These experiments were still much less efficient than great altitude injections, the study said. In fact, only about 35 percent are as effective as similar projects made in recruited 12.5 miles high in subtropics.
But they could still make a significant dent in the temperatures of the earth only 8 miles on the surface of the earth, a safe height for many commercial airplanes.
The simulations found that spraying 12 million metric tons of reflective sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere at 8 miles of altitude and 60 degrees of latitude in spring and summer would result in approximately 0.6 degrees Celsius, or 1.08 degrees Fahrenheit.
The concept still needs more research, thought, the authors of the study warned.
The particles in the atmosphere tend to spread more quickly from this to west than from north to south, which means that the immediate effects of solar comingeniería deployed in high latitudes could be stronger in Ecuador. In theory, that could be useful for purposes such as sea ice for ice reduction or decelerate the fusion of the world’s ice layers.
But many of the countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change are found in the tropics, the authors said. If world leaders one day consider geo -ngealry for the good of the planet, a polar injection strategy could mean that the regions closest to Ecuador would benefit so strongly.
At the same time, a low altitude injection strategy, with sprayed parts closer to the land surface, could carry the risk of stronger and more involuntary side effects. Some studies have suggested that solar geo -ngealry could have unwanted impacts on the earth’s ozone layer or precipitation patterns, and those possible consequences still need more research.
The team hopes to address some of these questions in future studies, Duffey suggested.
For now, new research adds another database to help answer scientific questions about the risks and potential benefits of geoyngeniery.
“It does not avoid the need for climate action,” Duffey warned, noting that reducing carbon emissions remains the most important strategy to address climate change.
“It would be very, very scary, very risky, living in a world that simply compensates for more and more of the greenhouse with more and more reflections of sunlight,” he said. “That is not a world we want to live.”
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