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Geoengineering with stratospheric aerosols: What do we not know after a decade of research?: GEOENGINEERING: WHAT DO WE NOT KNOW?

Journal Article · · Earth's Future
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/2016EF000418· OSTI ID:1338254
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [2]
  1. Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States). Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
  2. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States). Atmospheric Science and Global Change Division
  3. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

Any well-informed future decision on whether and how to deploy solar geoengineering requires balancing the impacts (both intended and unintended) of intervening in the climate against the impacts of not doing so. In spite of the tremendous progress in the last decade, the current state of knowledge remains insufficient to support an assessment of this balance, even for stratospheric aerosol geoengineering (SAG), arguably the best understood (practical) geoengineering method. We then articulate key unknowns associated with SAG, including both climate-science and design questions, as an essential step toward developing a future strategic research program that could address outstanding uncertainties.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1338254
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1347870
Journal Information:
Earth's Future, Journal Name: Earth's Future Journal Issue: 11 Vol. 4; ISSN 2328-4277
Publisher:
American Geophysical Union (AGU)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (19)

First Simulations of Designing Stratospheric Sulfate Aerosol Geoengineering to Meet Multiple Simultaneous Climate Objectives journal December 2017
Timescale for Detecting the Climate Response to Stratospheric Aerosol Geoengineering journal February 2019
Holistic Assessment of SO 2 Injections Using CESM1(WACCM): Introduction to the Special Issue journal January 2019
Impact of Solar Radiation Modification on Allowable CO 2 Emissions: What Can We Learn From Multimodel Simulations? journal June 2019
Climate Response to Pulse Versus Sustained Stratospheric Aerosol Forcing journal August 2019
Comparing Surface and Stratospheric Impacts of Geoengineering With Different SO 2 Injection Strategies journal July 2019
Evaluating climate geoengineering proposals in the context of the Paris Agreement temperature goals journal September 2018
Estimating global agricultural effects of geoengineering using volcanic eruptions journal August 2018
Ozone–climate interactions and effects on solar ultraviolet radiation journal January 2019
Mission-driven research for stratospheric aerosol geoengineering journal January 2019
Technical characteristics of a solar geoengineering deployment and implications for governance journal September 2019
Solar geoengineering as part of an overall strategy for meeting the 1.5°C Paris target
  • MacMartin, Douglas G.; Ricke, Katharine L.; Keith, David W.
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journal April 2018
Stratospheric aerosol evolution after Pinatubo simulated with a coupled size-resolved aerosol-chemistry-climate model, SOCOL-AERv1.0 text January 2018
Upper tropospheric ice sensitivity to sulfate geoengineering journal January 2018
Sensitivity of the radiative forcing by stratospheric sulfur geoengineering to the amount and strategy of the SO 2 injection studied with the LMDZ-S3A model journal January 2018
Sulfur deposition changes under sulfate geoengineering conditions: quasi-biennial oscillation effects on the transport and lifetime of stratospheric aerosols journal January 2018
Stratospheric aerosol evolution after Pinatubo simulated with a coupled size-resolved aerosol–chemistry–climate model, SOCOL-AERv1.0 journal January 2018
Estimating Global Agricultural Effects Of Geoengineering Using Volcanic Eruptions text January 2018
Estimating Global Agricultural Effects Of Geoengineering Using Volcanic Eruptions text January 2018

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