3 ms·

"Relatively minuscule quantities of sulfur dioxide (SO2) in the stratosphere are extremely reflective, scattering some of the sun’s light before it hits the Ear

"Relatively minuscule quantities of sulfur dioxide (SO2) in the stratosphere are extremely reflective, scattering some of the sun’s light before it hits the Earth, and in the process contributing to the atmospheric haze that gives sunsets their characteristic red color. " Sounds idyllic of course, but we really don't fully understand what effects such an intervention would have, and unlike what is claimed, we can't turn it off if it goes wrong. A much safer alternative IMHO is to spray seawater to enhance marine cloud formation. Also a possible alternative to grinding up mountains is marine iron fertilization, but again, we don't fully understand the effects.

arciini 3y ago
The article mentions that: > Stratospheric SO2 rains out of the atmosphere after a year or so, so unlike CO2 emissions it is relatively easy to control the dosing and the magnitude of the desired effect Is this not true? I'm curious about where I can read more about research about the lifetime of atmospheric SO2. Edit: The best source I could find about stratospheric SO2 was based on measurements after Pinatubo at https://www.osti.gov/pages/servlets/purl/1439705 https://www.osti.gov/pages/servlets/purl/1439705 (https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JD027006 https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JD027006) I see that the concentration declined to roughly 1% after 180 days (Figure 7). Volcanic aerosols seem to last a bit longer but seem to go back to background around 4 years (Figure 10).
- peterbecich 3y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratospheric_aerosol_injection https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratospheric_aerosol_injectio...
- rtpg 3y ago
  One sort of point was a recent article going around showing that sulfur output from cargo ships was lowered recently, and this seems to have lead to a noticable increase in ocean temperatures along shipping routes. So the cut in sulfur lead to measurable changes less than a year into this change (and the change has seemed to be consistent). In peer review but if that holds this would probably have similar qualities.
- selimthegrim 3y ago
  This definitely states there are deleterious effects on ozone (citing Solomon among others)

arciini 3y ago

The article mentions that: > Stratospheric SO2 rains out of the atmosphere after a year or so, so unlike CO2 emissions it is relatively easy to control the dosing and the magnitude of the desired effect Is this not true? I'm curious about where I can read more about research about the lifetime of atmospheric SO2. Edit: The best source I could find about stratospheric SO2 was based on measurements after Pinatubo at https://www.osti.gov/pages/servlets/purl/1439705 https://www.osti.gov/pages/servlets/purl/1439705 (https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JD027006 https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JD027006) I see that the concentration declined to roughly 1% after 180 days (Figure 7). Volcanic aerosols seem to last a bit longer but seem to go back to background around 4 years (Figure 10).

peterbecich 3y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratospheric_aerosol_injection https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratospheric_aerosol_injectio...
rtpg 3y ago
One sort of point was a recent article going around showing that sulfur output from cargo ships was lowered recently, and this seems to have lead to a noticable increase in ocean temperatures along shipping routes. So the cut in sulfur lead to measurable changes less than a year into this change (and the change has seemed to be consistent). In peer review but if that holds this would probably have similar qualities.
selimthegrim 3y ago
This definitely states there are deleterious effects on ozone (citing Solomon among others)