feat to cool the planet , recognize as geoengineering , wo n’t solve if carbon dioxide storey keep rise , a new cogitation claim . Although such projects may still examine a utilitarian assistant to travail to preclude C dioxide emissions , they will go wrong as a reliever , the researchers find .
Volcanic eruption can induce temporary cooling on a wandering scale by injecting particle and sulfur dioxide into the upper air , reflecting more sunshine . This hasinspired proposalsto do something standardized on an industrial scale . Some booster argue such schemes would be cheap than speedy replacement of fossil - fuel burning industries . Others regard the idea as something to be adopted in summation to , not instead of , fast discharge reduction , balancing the gases already release .
All this matters fiddling , however , if geoengineering wo n’t really work , a questionProfessor Tapio Schneiderof the California Institute of Technology is trying to reply . InProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , Schneider and co - authors close that geoengineering could work at survive atmospheric denseness of carbon paper dioxide , but would fail if those level pass a crucial doorsill .
carbon paper dioxide currently act upon Earth ’s clime by trapping irradiation close to the surface that would otherwise hit the upper atmosphere . In accession , above a sealed compactness carbon dioxide do startocumulus swarm to expose up . These clouds have a major cooling result on the satellite , reflect sunlight at tropic latitudes back to place . Their remotion would cause a rapid jump in temperature of around 5ºC ( 9ºF ) . Without geoengineering , Schneiderhas estimatedthis happen at 1,200 part per million . discharge of cool off particles would invoke the threshold to around 1,700 ppm , Schneider calculates , but can not murder it entirely .
Geoengineering efforts could potentially balance the radiative capture effects of CO2 and other greenhouse gases . However , once the threshold is crossed , cloud collapse would present a civilization - terminate event that no amount of geoengineering appears to forbid . Moreover , once these clouds are gone , carbon paper dioxide levels require to fall a long way before the stratocumulus clouds come back .
There is evidence stratocumulus cataclysm have happened in the Earth ’s distant past , explain temperature spike exceeding those auspicate by climate models that do n’t take cloud into account .
Even C after the industrial gyration , atomic number 6 dioxide levels are just less than a stern of Schneider ’s geoengineered tipping level . However , if emissions continue unabated we will inevitably get there eventually . Moreover , the 1,700 ppm floor is only an estimate , in the subtropics it could start out originally .
Geoengineering already faces other criticisms . For example , it is probable to produceshiftsin rainfall patterns , with potentially fateful consequences in some area . critic also note it does nothing to turn to problems likeocean acidification , and may make these considerably forged . Supporters argue the planet ’s crisis is so serious even result with serious side - effects need to be adopted .
Whichever side one drive on that disputation , Schneider ’s work suggests geoengineering is only deserving deal if companion by measures that keep carbon dioxide floor well below where they could mess with the clouds .
