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Geoengineering Earth's radiation balance to mitigate climate change from a quadrupling of CO2

Author(s): Bala G, Caldeira K, Duffy PB

Published: December, 2002

Publisher: Global and Planetary Change

DOI: 10.1016/S0921-8181(02)00195-9

Tags: Stratospheric Aerosols, Climate Modelling

URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921818102001959

Abstract: It has been suggested that climate change induced by anthropogenic CO2 could be counteracted with geoengineering schemes designed to diminish the solar radiation incident on Earth's surface. Though the spatial and temporal pattern of radiative forcing from greenhouse gases differs from that of sunlight, it was shown in a recent study that these schemes would largely mitigate regional or seasonal climate change for a doubling of the atmospheric CO2 content. Here, we examine the ability of reduced solar luminosity to cancel the effects of quadrupling of CO2 content. In agreement with our previous study, geoengineering schemes could markedly diminish regional and seasonal climate change. However, there are some residual climate changes: in the geoengineered 4×CO2 climate, a significant decrease in surface temperature and net water flux occurs in the tropics; warming in the high latitudes is not completely compensated; the cooling effect of greenhouse gases in the stratosphere persists and sea ice is not fully restored. However, these residual climate changes are much smaller than the change from quadrupling of CO2 without reducing solar input. Caution should be exercised in interpretation because these results are from a single model with a number of simplifying assumptions. There are also many technical, environmental and political reasons not to implement geoengineering schemes.


Impact of geoengineering schemes on the terrestrial biosphere

Author(s): Bala G, Thompson S, Duffy PB, Caldeira K, Delire C

Published: November, 2002

Publisher: Geophysical Research Letters

DOI: 10.1029/2002GL015911

Tags: Stratospheric Aerosols, Environmental Side-Effects, Climate Modelling

URL: http://www.agu.org/journals/ABS/2002/2002GL015911.shtml

Abstract: Climate stabilization via “Geoengineering” schemes seek to mitigate climate change due to increased greenhouse gases by compensating reduction in solar radiation incident on earth's surface. In this paper, we address the impact of these climate stabilization schemes on terrestrial biosphere using equilibrium simulations from a coupled atmosphere-terrestrial biosphere model. Climate stabilization would tend to limit changes in vegetation distribution brought on by climate change, but would not prevent CO2-induced changes in Net Primary Productivity (NPP) or biomass; indeed, if CO2 fertilization is significant, then a climate-stabilized world could have higher NPP than our current world. Nevertheless, there are many reasons why geoengineering is not a preferred option for climate stabilization.


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