Scientists Propose Controversial Plan to Re-freeze the Arctic and Antarctic by injecting sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere | Climate news
Scientists have drawn up a controversial plan to refreeze the Arctic and Antarctic, while dialing in global air conditioning.
They say high-flying jets can spray microscopic aerosol particles into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight and cool melting ice sheets.
About 175,000 flights a year would be needed, emitting millions of tons of carbon dioxide.
But a former UK chief scientist has backed the plan, telling Sky News that polar warming is crucial – and ice cooling could hold back sea level rise. Global.
New research led by Wake Smith from Yale University, USA.
He warned the plan would treat an important symptom of climate change, not the cause.
“It’s aspirin, not penicillin. It’s no substitute for decarbonisation,” he said.
Under the plan, a fleet of 125 military air-to-air refueling aircraft would release a cloud of microscopic sulfur dioxide particles at an altitude of 43,000ft (13km) and latitude 60 degrees in both hemispheres. , roughly equivalent to the Shetland Islands to the north and the Falklands to the south.
The particles will slowly drift towards the poles in high winds, covering a bit of the Earth’s surface below.
According to research published in the scientific journal Environmental Research Communications, just over 13 million tons of particles released in spring and summer are enough to cool the polar regions by 2C, with more moderate cooling in the polar regions. medium latitudes.
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The plan is controversial, especially because the large number of flights – the equivalent of more than two days of global air traffic in 2021 – will release greenhouse gases into the upper atmosphere, where they cause more harm.
Other scientists are also cautious about opening solar visors because it can have undesirable consequences, such as reduced crop yields.
A plan to release particles from a balloon in northern Sweden last year was scrapped after protests by environmentalists. A large-scale release program will require international approval.
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But the researchers believe that only 1% of the population lives in the target deployment area. And the program’s £10 billion-a-year cost would be much less than carbon capture or other means of mitigating or adapting to climate change, they added.
“If the risk-reward equation is in favor anywhere, it goes to the poles,” Mr. Smith said.
“Any purported rotation of the global thermostat will benefit all of humanity.”
The poles are warming many times faster than the global average, with record heatwaves reported in both the Arctic and Antarctic earlier this year.
If the vast ice sheets in Greenland and West Antarctica reach a tipping point – now thought likely on current projections of global warming – sea levels will rise by several meters.
Sir David King, a former government scientist and founder of the Center for Climate Repair (CCR) at the University of Cambridge, told Sky News that radical action is needed to save the polar ice.
“We’re right there, right now,” he said.
“The idea is to buy time while we reduce greenhouse gas emissions profoundly and quickly.
“It’s a necessity. If we continue to emit emissions at the current rate, we’re cooked up.”
Dr Shaun Fitzgerald, director of CCR, said the large number of flights could be justified if they tackled sea level rise immediately.
“Using airplanes is not good at all, but the impact of those greenhouse gases is a longer lasting effect.
“We’re worried about the effects (of climate change) right now. It’s really urgent.”
CCR is working on a strategy in its lab to lighten clouds over the Arctic Ocean with a fleet of ships pumping seawater into the atmosphere. The clouds will reflect sunlight back into space, cooling the ice in the area.
CCR supports a United Nations ban on trying any form of geoengineering on a large scale until tests show it is safe and it is agreed that it should be used.
