What goes up must come down: impacts of deposition in a sulfate geoengineering scenario
The problem of reducing the impacts of rising anthropogenic greenhouse gas on warming temperatures has led to the proposal of using stratospheric aerosols to reflect some of the incoming solar radiation back to space. The deliberate injection of sulfur into the stratosphere to form stratospheric sul...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2020-01-01
|
| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab94eb |
| _version_ | 1797747488326680576 |
|---|---|
| author | Daniele Visioni Eric Slessarev Douglas G MacMartin Natalie M Mahowald Christine L Goodale Lili Xia |
| author_facet | Daniele Visioni Eric Slessarev Douglas G MacMartin Natalie M Mahowald Christine L Goodale Lili Xia |
| author_sort | Daniele Visioni |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The problem of reducing the impacts of rising anthropogenic greenhouse gas on warming temperatures has led to the proposal of using stratospheric aerosols to reflect some of the incoming solar radiation back to space. The deliberate injection of sulfur into the stratosphere to form stratospheric sulfate aerosols, emulating volcanoes, will result in sulfate deposition to the surface. We consider here an extreme sulfate geoengineering scenario necessary to maintain temperatures at 2020 levels while greenhouse gas emissions continue to grow unabated. We show that the amount of stratospheric sulfate needed could be globally balanced by the predicted decrease in tropospheric anthropogenic SO _2 emissions, but the spatial distribution would move from industrialized regions to pristine areas. We show how these changes would affect ecosystems differently depending on present day observations of soil pH, which we use to infer the potential for acid-induced aluminum toxicity across the planet. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:51:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e2025f5614884481bf0ed1d376595d2a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:51:21Z |
| publishDate | 2020-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-e2025f5614884481bf0ed1d376595d2a2023-08-09T15:09:48ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262020-01-0115909406310.1088/1748-9326/ab94ebWhat goes up must come down: impacts of deposition in a sulfate geoengineering scenarioDaniele Visioni0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7342-2189Eric Slessarev1Douglas G MacMartin2Natalie M Mahowald3Christine L Goodale4Lili Xia5Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University , Ithaca, NY, United States of America; Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed.Physical and Life Sciences Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory , Livermore, CA, United States of AmericaSibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University , Ithaca, NY, United States of AmericaDepartment of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Cornell University , Ithaca, NY, United States of AmericaDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University , Ithaca, NY, United States of AmericaDepartment of Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University , New Brunswick, NJ, United States of AmericaThe problem of reducing the impacts of rising anthropogenic greenhouse gas on warming temperatures has led to the proposal of using stratospheric aerosols to reflect some of the incoming solar radiation back to space. The deliberate injection of sulfur into the stratosphere to form stratospheric sulfate aerosols, emulating volcanoes, will result in sulfate deposition to the surface. We consider here an extreme sulfate geoengineering scenario necessary to maintain temperatures at 2020 levels while greenhouse gas emissions continue to grow unabated. We show that the amount of stratospheric sulfate needed could be globally balanced by the predicted decrease in tropospheric anthropogenic SO _2 emissions, but the spatial distribution would move from industrialized regions to pristine areas. We show how these changes would affect ecosystems differently depending on present day observations of soil pH, which we use to infer the potential for acid-induced aluminum toxicity across the planet.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab94ebclimate changesolar radiation managementsulfate geoengineeringsulfate depositionacid rain |
| spellingShingle | Daniele Visioni Eric Slessarev Douglas G MacMartin Natalie M Mahowald Christine L Goodale Lili Xia What goes up must come down: impacts of deposition in a sulfate geoengineering scenario Environmental Research Letters climate change solar radiation management sulfate geoengineering sulfate deposition acid rain |
| title | What goes up must come down: impacts of deposition in a sulfate geoengineering scenario |
| title_full | What goes up must come down: impacts of deposition in a sulfate geoengineering scenario |
| title_fullStr | What goes up must come down: impacts of deposition in a sulfate geoengineering scenario |
| title_full_unstemmed | What goes up must come down: impacts of deposition in a sulfate geoengineering scenario |
| title_short | What goes up must come down: impacts of deposition in a sulfate geoengineering scenario |
| title_sort | what goes up must come down impacts of deposition in a sulfate geoengineering scenario |
| topic | climate change solar radiation management sulfate geoengineering sulfate deposition acid rain |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab94eb |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT danielevisioni whatgoesupmustcomedownimpactsofdepositioninasulfategeoengineeringscenario AT ericslessarev whatgoesupmustcomedownimpactsofdepositioninasulfategeoengineeringscenario AT douglasgmacmartin whatgoesupmustcomedownimpactsofdepositioninasulfategeoengineeringscenario AT nataliemmahowald whatgoesupmustcomedownimpactsofdepositioninasulfategeoengineeringscenario AT christinelgoodale whatgoesupmustcomedownimpactsofdepositioninasulfategeoengineeringscenario AT lilixia whatgoesupmustcomedownimpactsofdepositioninasulfategeoengineeringscenario |