skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Soil moisture and other hydrological changes in a stratospheric aerosol geoengineering large ensemble

Journal Article · · Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JD030237· OSTI ID:1614926
 [1];  [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [3];  [4];  [5];  [5];  [6]
  1. Cornell University
  2. NCAR
  3. BATTELLE (PACIFIC NW LAB)
  4. National Center for Atmospheric Research, PO Box 3000-80307,
  5. University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
  6. National Center for Atmospheric Research

Stratospheric sulfate aerosol geoengineering has been proposed as a potential strategy to reduce the impacts of climate change. Here we investigate the impact of stratospheric aerosol geoengineering on the terrestrial hydrological cycle. We use the Geoengineering Large Ensemble (GLENS), which involves a 20-member ensemble of simulations using the Community Earth System Model with the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model, in which sulfur dioxide (SO2) was injected into the stratosphere at four different locations, to maintain global mean surface temperature, and also the interhemispheric and equator-to-pole temperature gradients at values representative of 2020 (“baseline”) under the Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5 (RCP8.5). Under RCP8.5, annual mean land precipitation and evapotranspiration (ET) increase by 12% each. Under GLENS, the hydrological cycle is suppressed compared to the baseline, with end-of-century decreases of 1.4% (12±5 mm year-1) and 3.3% (18±2 mm year-1) in global mean, annual mean precipitation and ET over land, respectively. Geoengineering effectively maintains global mean total column soil moisture, though there is significant regional variability. Summertime soil moisture is reduced by 42±11 kg m-2 (3.5%) and 27±16 kg m-2 (2.1%) in India and the Amazon, respectively, which is dominated by the decrease in precipitation. We also compare these regional changes in soil moisture under GLENS with an equatorial-only SO2 injection case and find a similar sign in residual changes, although the magnitude of the changes is larger in the equatorial run.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1614926
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-146268
Journal Information:
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 124, Issue 23
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (58)

Precipitation, radiative forcing and global temperature change: PRECIPITATION AND RADIATIVE FORCING journal July 2010
Geoengineering Earth's radiation balance to mitigate CO 2 -induced climate change journal July 2000
Impact of geoengineering schemes on the global hydrological cycle journal May 2008
Components of ecosystem evaporation in a temperate coniferous rainforest, with canopy transpiration scaled using sapwood density journal November 2004
The influence of regional surface soil moisture anomalies on forest fires in Siberia observed from satellites journal October 2009
Fast and slow climate responses to CO 2 and solar forcing: A linear multivariate regression model characterizing transient climate change journal December 2015
Mechanisms for Global Warming Impacts on Precipitation Frequency and Intensity journal May 2012
Albedo Enhancement by Stratospheric Sulfur Injections: A Contribution to Resolve a Policy Dilemma? journal July 2006
Exploring the Effects of Solar Radiation Management on Water Cycling in a Coupled Land–Atmosphere Model journal April 2016
Regional Climate Variability Under Model Simulations of Solar Geoengineering: Variability Under Solar Geoengineering journal November 2017
Quantifying the effects of solar geoengineering on vegetation journal February 2019
Tailoring Meridional and Seasonal Radiative Forcing by Sulfate Aerosol Solar Geoengineering journal January 2018
Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 5 (CMIP5) simulations of climate following volcanic eruptions: VOLCANIC IMPACTS IN THE CMIP5 MODELS journal September 2012
Quantifying the temperature-independent effect of stratospheric aerosol geoengineering on global-mean precipitation in a multi-model ensemble journal March 2016
The impact of geoengineering on vegetation in experiment G1 of the GeoMIP journal October 2015
Asymmetric forcing from stratospheric aerosols impacts Sahelian rainfall journal March 2013
Robust Responses of the Hydrological Cycle to Global Warming journal November 2006
The role of stomata in sensing and driving environmental change journal August 2003
Observational evidence for soil-moisture impact on hot extremes in southeastern Europe journal December 2010
Impacts of hemispheric solar geoengineering on tropical cyclone frequency journal November 2017
The hydrological sensitivity to global warming and solar geoengineering derived from thermodynamic constraints journal January 2015
Soil Moisture Memory in Climate Models journal December 2001
Climate model response from the Geoengineering Model Intercomparison Project (GeoMIP): GEOMIP MODEL RESPONSE journal August 2013
First Simulations of Designing Stratospheric Sulfate Aerosol Geoengineering to Meet Multiple Simultaneous Climate Objectives journal December 2017
Comparing Surface and Stratospheric Impacts of Geoengineering With Different SO 2 Injection Strategies journal July 2019
Geoengineering as a design problem journal January 2016
An energetic perspective on hydrological cycle changes in the Geoengineering Model Intercomparison Project: GeoMIP ENERGETIC PERSPECTIVE journal December 2013
The Geoengineering Model Intercomparison Project (GeoMIP) journal January 2011
Global CO2 rise leads to reduced maximum stomatal conductance in Florida vegetation journal February 2011
Permafrost thaw and resulting soil moisture changes regulate projected high-latitude CO 2 and CH 4 emissions journal September 2015
Parameterization improvements and functional and structural advances in Version 4 of the Community Land Model journal January 2011
The Partitioning of Evapotranspiration into Transpiration, Soil Evaporation, and Canopy Evaporation in a GCM: Impacts on Land–Atmosphere Interaction journal August 2007
The Climate Response to Stratospheric Aerosol Geoengineering Can Be Tailored Using Multiple Injection Locations journal December 2017
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.
  • Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, Vol. 376, Issue 2119 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2016.0454
journal April 2018
Timescale for Detecting the Climate Response to Stratospheric Aerosol Geoengineering journal February 2019
Satellite soil moisture for agricultural drought monitoring: Assessment of the SMOS derived Soil Water Deficit Index journal May 2016
The global distribution and dynamics of surface soil moisture journal January 2017
The RCP greenhouse gas concentrations and their extensions from 1765 to 2300 journal August 2011
Radiative and Chemical Response to Interactive Stratospheric Sulfate Aerosols in Fully Coupled CESM1(WACCM) journal December 2017
Trends and scales of observed soil moisture variations in China journal January 2008
Solar irradiance reduction via climate engineering: Impact of different techniques on the energy balance and the hydrological cycle: CLIMATIC IMPACT OF DIFFERENT SRM METHODS journal November 2013
A simple TOPMODEL-based runoff parameterization (SIMTOP) for use in global climate models journal January 2005
Development of a simple groundwater model for use in climate models and evaluation with Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment data journal January 2007
Volcanic eruptions and climate journal May 2000
Regional climate responses to geoengineering with tropical and Arctic SO 2 injections journal January 2008
Migrations and dynamics of the intertropical convergence zone journal September 2014
Investigating soil moisture–climate interactions in a changing climate: A review journal May 2010
Assessing a dry surface layer-based soil resistance parameterization for the Community Land Model using GRACE and FLUXNET-MTE data journal September 2014
A GRACE ‐based assessment of interannual groundwater dynamics in the C ommunity L and M odel journal November 2015
Improved simulation of the terrestrial hydrological cycle in permafrost regions by the Community Land Model: IMPROVED CLM COLD-REGION HYDROLOGY journal March 2012
The hydrological impact of geoengineering in the Geoengineering Model Intercomparison Project (GeoMIP): THE HYDROLOGIC IMPACT OF GEOENGINEERING journal October 2013
CESM1(WACCM) Stratospheric Aerosol Geoengineering Large Ensemble Project journal November 2018
Effects of Different Stratospheric SO 2 Injection Altitudes on Stratospheric Chemistry and Dynamics journal May 2018
Sensitivity of Aerosol Distribution and Climate Response to Stratospheric SO 2 Injection Locations journal December 2017
Effects of Mount Pinatubo volcanic eruption on the hydrological cycle as an analog of geoengineering: PINATUBO AND THE HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE journal August 2007
Reduced streamflow in water-stressed climates consistent with CO2 effects on vegetation journal October 2015
Impacts of stratospheric sulfate geoengineering on tropospheric ozone journal January 2017
Stratospheric sulfate geoengineering could enhance the terrestrial photosynthesis rate journal January 2016

Similar Records

Comparing surface and stratospheric impacts of geoengineering with different SO2 injection strategies
Journal Article · Sat Jul 27 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres · OSTI ID:1614926

Timescale for Detecting the Climate Response to Stratospheric Aerosol Geoengineering
Journal Article · Sat Feb 02 00:00:00 EST 2019 · Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres · OSTI ID:1614926

Changes in Hadley circulation and intertropical convergence zone under strategic stratospheric aerosol geoengineering
Journal Article · Tue Apr 19 00:00:00 EDT 2022 · npj Climate and Atmospheric Science · OSTI ID:1614926

Related Subjects