We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
from Section IV - Solar Radiation Management
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 February 2022
Here we grasp the tool in this side of our box with the most promise to exert a material cooling impact on the planet in the foreseeable future. It also however comes with the greatest likelihood of problematical unintended consequences. Volcanoes provide a helpful analog for how SAI might operate and demonstrate that aerosols suspended in the atmosphere can and do immediately and substantially cool the earth. The mechanics of recreating such a volcano effect in a deliberate fashion are explained and situated in both space and time. It is also noted that relative to any other climate intervention or solution, SAI would be stunningly cheap, giving rise to the prospect of the “free driver” hypothesis. In addition to exerting force upon the climate variable (temperature), it may well interfere with ones we do not, such as rainfall. The problematical dynamics of stopping such a program (“termination shock”) are explored, as are difficulties that would arise in seeking to attribute observed climate impacts in an engineered climate to their causes. SAI is presented as an enigma to be explored rather than a remedy to be implemented.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
