Extreme weather incidents are becoming more and more common. As the surface temperature of Earth continues to rise, ice on rivers and lakes breaks up earlier, plant and animal ranges are vanishing while flowers bloom sooner.
Scientists had predicted in the past that many climate related problems would occur in the following years. Unfortunately, time has come and we can already witness phenomena such as loss of sea ice, accelerated sea level rise and more intense heat waves.
In 2018, a study that has been expected for years, especially in the academic circle, will be set in motion to explore a new technology that could rearrange the way we see the world and change the effects of climate change.
A team of Harvard scientists are planning to be part of an experiment that would literally touch every living thing on the planet. The project is estimated to cost 20m $ and will be launched within this year. The climate researchers intend to unveil a high-altitude balloon that would spray thousands of tons of sun-reflecting chemical particles into the atmosphere to artificially cool the planet. The balloon’s course will take place mainly above the Fort Summer, New Mexico sky. Flying over 80.OOO feet.
They are examinating ways to reflect sunlight back to space and cool down the earth. It aims to replicate observed effects of volcanoes that spel sulphates into the stratosphere.
Geoengineering is a pioneering science that could well become extremely popular in the next months. Professor Frank Keutsch, describes the field as ‘’the way that humans purposefully influence the climate of the planet’’while ‘’solar geoengineering specifically is the idea of introducing a substance into the stratosphere that will cool down the planet by reflecting back sunlight ‘’.In other words,the same philosophy as wearing a white shirt in the summer instead of a black one.
David Keith, is one of the scientists working on the project. Talking about the experiment he stated ‘’Our experiment will be a small balloon payload that weights a few hundred kilograms that will fly about 20 kilometers up in the stratosphere (imagine it as twice as high as a commercial jet) and will release a small amount ,less than a kilogram of materials and then it will fly back and forth and measure the way those interact with the background chemistry of the stratosphere.!
Even though Keith believes that this may be an inexpensive method to slow down global warming, other scientists do not seem to agree as they warn that the experiment is too unpredictable and the consequences for the Earth’s weather system and food supplies will be extremely disastrous.
Janos Pasztor, Ban Ki-moon’s assistant climate chief at the UN who now leads a geoengineering governance initiative, reassures others field scientists that there will only be dispersed a minimal amount of compounds in their tests, under strict university controls.
“The real issue here is something much more challenging,” he said “What does moving experimentation from the lab into the atmosphere mean for the overall path towards eventual deployment?”
“This is not the first or the only university study,” Gernot Wagner added, the project’s co-founder, “but it is most certainly the largest, and the most comprehensive.” The scientists behind the project plan to complete two small-scale dispersals by 2022. The first will disperse water into the stratosphere, and the second will disperse calcium carbonate particles. Future tests may involve with dispersing aluminum oxide or even diamonds!
These techniques mimic the natural modifications to Earth’s usual radiation balance seen after large-scale volcanic eruptions.
The experiment may not impact the climate significantly but that might change if one day it’s implemented in order to help curb extreme weather events.
Keith points that ‘’If we turn down the sun a little bit that brings the earth’s energy more into balance and that could reduce some of the risks like extreme storms or extreme temperatures’’ . Dealing in that way with the weather-related disasters that according to insurers have quadrupled since 1970.
“Solar geoengineering is not the answer,” Kevin Trenberth, a lead author for the United Nation’s intergovernmental panel on climate change, told The Guardian. Uncertainty and possibly dangerous range of results is just one of the reasons the program is being met with opposition from within the scientific community.
On the other hand, Keith answers these doubts that if one day the world decides to take the risk and try it without having the necessary info then there will be deep uncertainty about how well it works and what the risks are.
While from the environmentalist’s point of view, even though their main goal is to deal with the climate change problem it is believed that the effort to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions could be lost if there is seen to be a quick fix with this geoengineering experiment. Also,if a technology for climate change was built one day who would be in charge of it as it would affect billions of lives on this planet.
Sources:
http://www.businessinsider.com/solar-geoengineering-experiment-attempts-to-cool-the-earth-2012-7 https://www.technologyreview.com/s/603974/harvard-scientists-moving-ahead-on-plans-for-atmospheric-geoengineering-experiments/ https://futurism.com/the-worlds-largest-solar-geoengineering-study-is-launching-in-the-u-s/