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Climate-Cooling Plan Goes Up in Dust

Larry O'Hanlon, Discovery News

What's more, the modeling showed that size matters. Twice as many large sulfate particles -- like those created by volcanoes -- would be needed to do the same cooling as smaller manmade particles.

"This is what I would call the first of the next generation of geoengineering simulations," said climate researcher Ken Caldeira of Stanford University. This kind of detail is essential to truly evaluate the costs and feasibility of geoengineering.

So far, it looks pretty affordable, said Rasch. Back of the envelope calculations suggest such efforts are more economical than a massive restructuring of the world's economy to run on fewer fossil fuels.

"It's not the cost of it that is a big problem," said Rasch about geoengineering. "Yet if we do nothing we still have a big problem."

Also, such geo-engineered cooling does nothing to halt the ongoing increasing carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning which causes other problems -- like making the oceans more acidic. As Rasch adds, "geoengineering is not a complete solution" and he would prefer that we cut emissions.

"I think this paper shows that that this sort of geoengineering scheme isn't perfect," agrees Caldeira. "It doesn't return the Earth to a pristine state."

Still, Caldeira said, it's better than the version of Earth we'll get with much higher carbon dioxide levels without any geoengineering.

Related Links:

Larry O'Hanlon's blog: Earth Impacts

National Center for Atmospheric Research

Climate Effects of Volcanic Eruptions