Scientists want to spray sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere to refreeze Earth’s poles. Crazy or a very clever plan?
Goal: slow down global warming
The plan, led by Wake Smith of Yale University to refreeze the poles and reverse ice loss, is bold and ambitious. The concept, called stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI), would cost more than €11 billion a year, but the researchers say it would still be cheaper than previously proposed climate mitigation methods .
The technique “would reduce climate change by diverting a small fraction of incoming solar radiation back into space,” the scientists say.
How would it work?
In a new study published in the journal Environmental Research Communications , experts say high-flying planes could spray microscopic aerosol particles into the atmosphere at latitudes 60 degrees north and south. As these chemical aerosols are released above aircraft cruising altitudes, they would drift slowly poleward, slightly shading the surface, allowing the poles to refreeze, alleviating the problems of glacial ice melt and Rising sea levels. A controversial project in which they posit that ‘legacy’ (repurposed) military air-to-air refueling tankers such as the old KC-135 and A330 MMRT do not have enough payload at the required altitudes and therefore present the SAIL-43K as an efficient candidate for the subpolar mission.
How many planes would be needed?
The fleet of 125 SAIL-43K air tankers would release a cloud of microscopic sulfur dioxide particles that, at an altitude of 13 kilometers, could lift enough payload to cool regions by two degrees per year, bringing many areas closer to their average pre-industrial temperatures (like Alaska).
According to Smith and his colleagues, the injections of particles from the jets would take place seasonally in the long days of the local spring and early summer. The same fleet of jets could service both hemispheres, ferrying the opposite pole with the changing of the seasons.
But…
As a brave and risky idea, it also has its drawbacks. The aircraft would, of course, release its own emissions, which would also contribute to global warming. The document highlights that such an operation would be equivalent to more than two days of global commercial air traffic in 2021. In addition, the aerosol would be composed of sulfur dioxide, which at high levels can cause nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and damage to the respiratory tract. and the lungs. It goes without saying that the microparticles would spread to at least six countries, affecting crops and the population living in these areas. Apart from that, the ground infrastructure necessary for this large project should be improved to accommodate the program.
“Although it could be a game changer in a rapidly warming world, stratospheric aerosol injections simply treat a symptom of climate change, but not the underlying disease. It’s aspirin, not penicillin. It’s not a substitute for decarbonization ,” Smith concludes.
Referencia: A subpolar-focused stratospheric aerosol injection deployment scenario
Wake Smith, Umang Bhattarai, Douglas G MacMartin, Walker Raymond Lee, Daniele Visioni, Ben Kravitz and Christian V Rice
Published 15 September 2022 • © 2022 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd
Environmental Research Communications, Volume 4, Number 9 Citation Wake Smith et al 2022 Environ. Res. Commun. 4 095009
