Environmental News Network - In the New UN Climate Report, a Better Understanding of Solar Geoengineering

Details: By Yale Environment 360; 13.Aug

The latest report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change offers not only a clearer view of the causes and consequences of global warming, but also a better understanding of some extreme and untested solutions to the climate crisis, including solar geoengineering — the process of modifying clouds or spraying tiny reflective particles into the upper atmosphere to block a portion of the sun’s light, thereby cooling the planet, Reuters reported.

Cheryl Porter

The latest report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change offers not only a clearer view of the causes and consequences of global warming, but also a better understanding of some extreme and untested solutions to the climate crisis, including solar geoengineering — the process of modifying clouds or spraying tiny reflective particles into the upper atmosphere to block a portion of the sun’s light, thereby cooling the planet, Reuters reported.

While previous climate models showed only how much solar geoengineering, also called solar radiation modification, would lower the average temperature of the planet, new models run on supercomputers indicate how temperatures would vary at different latitudes and also how geoengineering would affect rainfall and snowfall.

Releasing sulfate aerosols into the upper atmosphere to block sunlight would lower average precipitation, the report found. Thinning high-altitude cirrus clouds, by contrast, would increase average precipitation.

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In the New UN Climate Report, a Better Understanding of Solar Geoengineering