Climate change: Geoengineering artificially cools the Earth, but at a cost – TomoNews

HAMBURG, GERMANY / ZURICH, SWITZERLAND — As temperatures on Earth reach unprecedented highs, extreme, potentially disastrous weather will be more likely. Scientists say there may be ways to intervene, but warn that they come with risky consequences.

Business Insider reports that two recently published papers in the journal Science are investigating strategies for geoengineering, which is the artificial modification of environmental processes or climate systems, as a way of combating climate change.

One such strategy is mimicking the effects of a volcanic eruption.

Erupting volcanoes spew out large amounts of sulfur-rich gases, which help cool the Earth by reflecting solar radiation back into space.

The same effect can be recreated using planes that would inject sulfur into the atmosphere. But to cool the planet by 1 degree Celsius, 6,700 injections are needed eventually, which will cost $20 billion annually.

This approach also risks destroying the ozone layer and reducing rainfall, enough to potentially cause droughts in certain regions.

A similarly drastic approach to cooling Earth can be achieved by thinning heat-trapping cirrus clouds. Seeding causes the clouds to break apart and lets more heat escape.

The seeding process, however, must be precise, otherwise new cirrus clouds may form elsewhere and add to the warming effect.

But while sulfur injections and cirrus cloud seedings will cool the land, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere remain the same, and ocean acidification continues.

As such, researchers argue the two strategies should be deployed more as a last resort, adding that reducing carbon emissions are much more effective at curing climate change.
—————————————-­———————

Go to https://www.patreon.com/tomonews and become a Patron now

TomoNews is now on Patreon and we’ve got some cool perks for our hardcore fans.

TomoNews is your best source for real news. We cover the funniest, craziest and most talked-about stories on the internet. Our tone is irreverent and unapologetic. If you’re laughing, we’re laughing. If you’re outraged, we’re outraged. We tell it like it is. And because we can animate stories, TomoNews brings you news like you’ve never seen before.

Visit our official website for all the latest, uncensored videos: http://us.tomonews.com
Check out our Android app: http://bit.ly/1rddhCj
Check out our iOS app: http://bit.ly/1gO3z1f

Get top stories delivered to your inbox everyday: http://bit.ly/tomo-newsletter
See a story that should be animated? Tell us about it! Suggest a story here: http://bit.ly/suggest-tomonews

Stay connected with us here:
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/TomoNewsUS
Twitter @tomonewsus http://www.twitter.com/TomoNewsUS
Google+ http://plus.google.com/+TomoNewsUS/
Instagram @tomonewsus http://instagram.com/tomonewsus

-~-~~-~~~-~~-~-
Please watch: “Crying dog breaks the internet’s heart — but this sad dog story has a happy ending”

-~-~~-~~~-~~-~-



コメントを残す

日本語が含まれない投稿は無視されますのでご注意ください。(スパム対策)