Optimising climate change reduction
Scientists at the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology have taken a new approach on examining a proposal to fix the warming planet. So-called geoengineering ideas - large-scale projects to change the Earth's climate - have included erecting giant mirrors in space to reflect solar radiation, injecting aerosols of sulphate into the stratosphere making a global sunshade, and much more. Past modelling of the sulphate idea looked at how the stratospheric aerosols might affect Earth's climate and chemistry. The Carnegie researchers started out differently by asking how, if people decided what kind of climate they want, they would go about determining the aerosol distribution pattern that would come closest to achieving their climate goals. This new approach is the first attempt to determine the optimal way of achieving defined climate goals. The research is published in the September 16, 2010, issue of the Environmental Research Letters...