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A few years ago I did some back-of-the-envelope calculations regarding sulfur dioxide injection into the stratosphere: http://curtisb.posthaven.com/someday-soon

by curtis 7y ago

A few years ago I did some back-of-the-envelope calculations regarding sulfur dioxide injection into the stratosphere: http://curtisb.posthaven.com/someday-soon-chemtrails-may-be-real http://curtisb.posthaven.com/someday-soon-chemtrails-may-be-.... The proposal for saving Antarctic ice in the submitted article may be just too big for humans to do. Sulfur dioxide injection, however, is dirt cheap, and we could definitely do that. I'm not saying it's a good idea, but we can do it.

millstone 7y ago
It's so cheap that a nation threatened by climate change likely will do it "rogue", without international consensus. It's less a matter of "if" but "when."
mikedilger 7y ago
You do know that sulphur dioxide in the atmosphere causes acid rain, right?
- curtis 7y ago
  This paper considers that very question: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/2009JD011918 https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/2009... From the "Conclusions" section: > Analysis of our results and comparison to the results of Kuylenstierna et al.[2001] and Skeffington[2006] lead to the conclusion that the additional sulfate deposition that would result from geoengineering will not be sufficient to negatively impact most ecosystems, even under the assumption that all deposited sulfate will be in the form of sulfuric acid. However, although these model results are feasible, should geoengineering with sulfate aerosols actually be conducted, local results due to weather variability may differ from the results presented here. With the exception of terrestrial waterways, every region has a critical loading value a full order of magnitude above the largest potential total amount of acid deposition that would occur under the geoengineering scenarios presented in this paper. Furthermore, our results show that additional sulfate deposition tends to preferentially occur over oceans, meaning the chance of such a sensitive ecosystem receiving enough additional sulfate deposition to suffer negative consequences is very small. Also note that I did not say that sulfur dioxide injection was a good idea, only that we could afford to do it.
  - hndamien 7y ago
    At the very least it would provide incontrovertible evidence that humans can effect the climate. As if there wasn't enough evidence already :(
networkimprov 7y ago
The 1991 eruption of Mt Pinatubo caused 0.5C degree of cooling the following year (i.e. instantaneously). We need short-term remediation, starting immediately. This is the only cost-effective method. https://pubs.usgs.gov/pinatubo/self/ https://pubs.usgs.gov/pinatubo/self/
Proven 7y ago
If it's dirt cheap why do I even need to know about it? Just do it and let me know when you've saved me.

by curtis 7y ago

millstone 7y ago

It's so cheap that a nation threatened by climate change likely will do it "rogue", without international consensus. It's less a matter of "if" but "when."

mikedilger 7y ago

You do know that sulphur dioxide in the atmosphere causes acid rain, right?

curtis 7y ago
This paper considers that very question: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/2009JD011918 https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/2009... From the "Conclusions" section: > Analysis of our results and comparison to the results of Kuylenstierna et al.[2001] and Skeffington[2006] lead to the conclusion that the additional sulfate deposition that would result from geoengineering will not be sufficient to negatively impact most ecosystems, even under the assumption that all deposited sulfate will be in the form of sulfuric acid. However, although these model results are feasible, should geoengineering with sulfate aerosols actually be conducted, local results due to weather variability may differ from the results presented here. With the exception of terrestrial waterways, every region has a critical loading value a full order of magnitude above the largest potential total amount of acid deposition that would occur under the geoengineering scenarios presented in this paper. Furthermore, our results show that additional sulfate deposition tends to preferentially occur over oceans, meaning the chance of such a sensitive ecosystem receiving enough additional sulfate deposition to suffer negative consequences is very small. Also note that I did not say that sulfur dioxide injection was a good idea, only that we could afford to do it.
- hndamien 7y ago
  At the very least it would provide incontrovertible evidence that humans can effect the climate. As if there wasn't enough evidence already :(

networkimprov 7y ago

The 1991 eruption of Mt Pinatubo caused 0.5C degree of cooling the following year (i.e. instantaneously). We need short-term remediation, starting immediately. This is the only cost-effective method. https://pubs.usgs.gov/pinatubo/self/ https://pubs.usgs.gov/pinatubo/self/

Proven 7y ago

If it's dirt cheap why do I even need to know about it? Just do it and let me know when you've saved me.