Abstract
With the concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gases (GHGs) rising to levels unprecedented in the current glacial epoch, the earth’s climate system appears to be rapidly shifting into a warmer regime. Many in the international science and policy communities fear that the fundamental changes in human behavior, and in the global economy, that will be required to meaningfully reduce GHG emissions in the very near term are unattainable. In the 1970s, discussion of “geoengineering,” a radical strategy for arresting climate change by intentional, direct manipulation of the Earth’s energy balance began to appear in the climate science literature. With growing international concern about the pace of climate change, the scientific and public discourse on the feasibility of geoengineering has recently grown more sophisticated and more energetic. A wide array of potential geoengineering projects have been proposed, ranging from orbiting space mirrors to reduce solar flux to the construction of large networks of processors that directly remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Simple estimates of costs exist, and some discussion of both the potentially negative and “co-beneficial” consequences of these projects can be found in the scientific literature.
The critical, missing piece in the discussion of geoengineering as a strategy for managing climate is an integrated evaluation of the downstream costs-versus-benefits inter-comparing all available climate management options, including geoengineering. Our examination of the literature revealed a number of substantial gaps in the knowledge base required for such an evaluation. Therefore, to ensure that the decision framework arising from this analysis is well founded, a focused program of scientific research to fill those gaps is also essential. As with any sound engineering plan, international decisions on how to address human-induced climate warming must be founded on a thoughtful and well-informed analysis of all of the available options.
The findings included in this chapter do not necessarily reflect the view or policies of the Environmental Protection Agency. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute Agency endorsement or recommendation for use.
© US Government 2011
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2007). Climate change 2007: the physical science basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University, Press, Cambridge/New York
Raupach MR et al (2007) Global and regional drivers of accelerating CO2 emissions. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104:10288–10293
Canadell JG et al (2007) Contributions to accelerating atmospheric CO2 growth from economic activity, carbon intensity, and efficiency of natural sinks. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104:18866–18870
Marchetti C (1977) On geoengineering and the CO2 problem. Clim Change 1:59–68
Keith DW (2000) Geoengineering the climate: history and prospect. Annu Rev Energy Environ 25:245–284
Broad WJ (1988) Scientists dream up bold remedies for ailing atmosphere. New York Times, New York
Broad WJ (2006) How to cool a planet (Maybe). New York Times, New York
Discovery Chanel (2011) Project Earth, http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/project-earth/project-earth.html. Retrieved March 4, 2011
Economist T (2008) A changing climate of opinion? The Economist
Svoboda E (2008) The sun blotted out from the sky. Salon.com
Walsh B (2008) Future revolutions: geoengineering. Time Magazine, Time Inc
NASA (2010) Earth fact sheet. http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/earthfact.html. Retrieved 13 June 2010
Nissen KM, Matthes K, Langematz U, Mayer B (2007) Towards a better representation of the solar cycle in general circulation models. Atmos Chem Phys 7:5391–5400
Foukal P, Frohlich C, Spruit H, Wigley TML (2006) Variations in solar luminosity and their effect on the Earth’s climate. Nature 443:161–166
Solanki SK, Fligge M (1998) Solar irradiance since 1874 revisited. Geophys Res Lett 25:341–344
Crutzen PJ (2006) Albedo enhancement by stratospheric sulfur injections: a contribution to resolve a policy dilemma? Clim Change 77:211–219
Teller E, Hyde T, Wood L (2002) Active Climate Stabilization: Practical Physics-Based Approaches to Prevention of Climate Change.” National Academy of Engineering Symposium, Washington, D.C. April 23–24, 2002. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA. US DOE Report Number: UCRL-JC-148012
Govindasamy B, Caldeira K (2000) Geoengineering Earth’s radiation balance to mitigate CO2-induced climate change. Geophys Res Lett 27:2141–2144
Lenton TM, Vaughan NE (2009) The radiative forcing potential of different climate geoengineering options. Atmos Chem Phys Discuss 9:2559–2608
Early JT (1989) Space-based solar shield to offset greenhouse effect. J Br Interplanet Soc 42:567–569
Angel R (2006) Feasibility of cooling the Earth with a cloud of small spacecraft near the inner Lagrange point (L1). Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 103:17184–17189
National Academy of Sciences, Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy, Panel on Policy Implications of Greenhouse Warming (1992). Policy implications of greenhouse warming: mitigation, adaptation, and the science base. National Academy Press, Washington, DC
McCormick MP, Thomason LW, Trepte CR (1995) Atmospheric effects of the Mt Pinatubo eruption. Nature 373:399–404
Charlson RJ et al (1992) Climate forcing by anthropogenic aerosols. Science 255:423–430
United Nations (1976) Convention on the prohibition of military or any other hostile use of environmental modification techniques
Springer S (2008) No time to be under a cloud. The Boston Globe
Khan E et al (2001) White paper: response options to limit rapid or severe climate change, assessment of research needs. U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, DC
Latham J (1990) Control of global warming? Nature 347:339–340
Latham J (2002) Amelioration of global warming by controlled enhancement of the albedo and longevity of low-level maritime clouds. Atmos Sci Lett 3:52–58
Latham J et al (2008) Global temperature stabilization via controlled albedo enhancement of low-level maritime clouds. Philos Trans R Soc A Math Phys Eng Sci 366:3969–3987
Salter S, Sortino G, Latham J (2008) Sea-going hardware for the cloud albedo method of reversing global warming. Philos Trans R Soc A: Math Phys Eng Sci 366:3989–4006
Budyko MI (1977) Climatic changes (Translation of 1974 Russian edition). American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC
Stern DI (2005) Global sulfur emissions from 1850 to 2000. Chemosphere 58:163–175
Flannery BP, Kheshgi H, Marland G, MacCracken MC (1997) Geoengineering climate. In: Watts RG (ed) Engineering response to global climate change. CRC Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton
Rasch PJ, Crutzen PJ, Coleman DB (2008) Exploring the geoengineering of climate using stratospheric sulfate aerosols: the role of particle size. Geophys Res Lett 35:6
Hofmann DJ, Oltmans SJ (1993) Anomalous Antarctic ozone during 1992: evidence for Pinatubo volcanic aerosol effects. J Geophys Res 98:18,555–18,561
Tilmes S, Muller R, Salawitch R (2008) The sensitivity of polar ozone depletion to proposed geoengineering schemes. Science 320:1201–1204
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2008) Reducing urban heat islands: compendium of strategies. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC
Hamwey R (2007) Active amplification of the terrestrial Albedo to mitigate climate change: an exploratory study. Mitig Adapt Strateg Glob Change 12:419–439
Akbari H, Menon S, Rosenfeld A (2009) Global cooling: increasing world-wide urban albedos to offset CO2. Clim Change 94(3–4):275–286
Ramanathan V, Agrawal M, Akimoto H, Aufhammer M, Devotta S, Emberson L, Hasnain SI, Iyngararasan M, Jayaraman A, Lawrance M, Nakajima T, Oki T, Rodhe H, Ruchirawat M, Tan SK, Vincent J, Wang JY, Yang D, Zhang YH, Autrup H, Barregard L, Bonasoni P, Brauer M, Brunekreef B, Carmichael G, Chung CE, Dahe J, Feng Y, Fuzzi S, Gordon T, Gosain AK, Htun N, Kim J, Mourato S, Naeher L, Navasumrit P, Ostro B, Panwar T, Rahman MR, Ramana MV, Rupakheti M, Settachan D, Singh AK, St Helen G, Tan PV, Viet PH, Yinlong J, Yoon SC, Chang W-C, Wang X, Zelikoff J, Zhu A (2008) Atmospheric brown clouds: regional assessment report with focus on Asia. United Nations Environment Programme. Nairobi, Kenya
Raven JA, Falkowski PG (1999) Oceanic sinks for atmospheric CO2. Plant Cell Environ 22:741–755
Takahashi T, Sutherland S, Sweeney C, Poisson A, Metzl N, Tilbrook B, Bates N, Wanninkhof R, Feely R, Sabine C (2002) Global sea air CO2 flux based on climatological surface ocean pCO2, and seasonal biological and temperature effects. Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography 49(9–10):1601–1622
Gruber N, Gloor M, Sara E. Mikaloff Fletcher, Scott C. Doney, Stephanie Dutkiewicz, Michael J. Follows, Markus Gerber, Andrew R. Jacobson, Fortunat Joos, Keith Lindsay, Dimitris Menemenlis, Anne Mouchet, Simon A. Muller, Jorge L. Sarmiento, and Taro Takahashi (2009). Oceanic sources, sinks, and transport of atmospheric CO2. GLOBAL BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES, VOL. 23, GB1005, doi:10.1029/2008GB003349
Harvey LDD (2008) Mitigating the atmospheric CO2 increase and ocean acidification by adding limestone powder to upwelling regions. J Geophys Res Oceans 113
Kheshgi HS (1995) Sequestering atmospheric carbon-dioxide by increasing ocean alkalinity. Energy 20:915–922
Arrigo KR (2007) Carbon cycle – marine manipulations. Nature 450:491–492
Pollard RT, Salter I, Sanders RJ, Lucas MI, Mark Moore C, Mills RA, Statham PJ, Allen JT, Baker AR, Dorothee CE, Bakker MA, Charette SF, Fones GR, French M, Hickman AE, Holland RJ, Alan Hughes J, Jickells TD, Lampitt RS, Morris PJ, Nédélec FH, NIelsdótir M, Planquette H, Popova EE, Poulton AJ, Read JF, Seeyave S, Smith T, Stinchcombe M, Taylor S, Thomalla S, Venables HJ, Williamson R, Zubkov MV (2009). Southern Ocean deep-water carbon export enhanced by natural iron fertilization. Nature 457:577–581.
Gattuso JP, Buddemeier RW (2000) Ocean biogeochemistry – calcification and CO2. Nature 407:311–313
Trick C, Bill B, Cochlan W, Wells M, Trainer V, Pickell L (2010) Iron enrichment stimulates toxic diatom production in high-nitrate, low-chlorophyll areas, PNAS 107(13):5887–5892
Suntharalingatn P, Sarmiento IL, Toggweilcr JR (2000) Global significance of nitrous-oxide production and transport froin oceanic low-oxygen zones – a modeling study. Global Biogeochem Cy 14(4):1353–1370
Law CS (2008) Predicting and monitoring the effects of large-scale ocean iron fertilization n marine trace gas emissions. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 364:283–288
Birdsey RA, Pregitzer K, Lucier A (2006) Forest carbon management in the United States: 1600–2100. Journal of Environmental Quality 35:1461–1469
Metz BD, Davidson O, De Coninck H, Loos M, Meyer L (eds) (2005) IPCC special report on carbon dioxide capture and storage. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge/New York, p 442
Keith DW, Ha-Duong M, Stolaroff JK (2006) Climate strategy with CO2 capture from the air. Clim Change 74:17–45
Lackner KS (2002) Carbonate chemistry for sequestering fossil carbon. Annu Rev Energy Environ 27:193–232
Schuiling RD, Krijgsman P (2006) Enhanced weathering: an effective and cheap tool to sequester CO2. Clim Change 74:349–354
Velasquez-Manoff M (2007) Giant carbon vacuums could cool Earth, Christian Science Monitor, 4/19/2007. http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0419/p13s01-sten.html. Retrieved 4 Mar 2011
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hemming, B.L., Hagler, G.S.W. (2011). Geoengineering: Direct Mitigation of Climate Warming. In: Princiotta, F. (eds) Global Climate Change - The Technology Challenge. Advances in Global Change Research, vol 38. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3153-2_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3153-2_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-3152-5
Online ISBN: 978-90-481-3153-2
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)