Solar Geoengineering

Solar geoengineering, much like the greenhouse gases causing climate change, shifts the balance between how much heat the Earth absorbs and how much it releases. The difference is that it is done deliberately, and in the opposite direction. The most common umbrella strategy is to make the Earth more reflective, keeping heat out, though there are also methods of helping heat escape (besides CO2 removal, which is discussed in Forestry and Other Land Use).

Data

One challenge brought forward by geoengineering is to pinpoint ways ways in which climate models treat various geoengineering scenarios, and modeling the likely climate effects of geoengineering.

Useful datasets for this include:

• The Geoengineering Model Intercomparison Project: A resource describing solar geoengineering simulation data.

Recommended Readings

• Harvard Project on Climate Agreements. Governance of the Deployment of Solar Geoengineering.
• An overview of the Earth system science of geoengineering
• Irvine, P.J. Towards a comprehensive climate impacts assessment of solar geoengineering (2016)
• MacMartin, D.G. and Kravitz, B. The engineering of climate engineering (2019)

Community

Journals and conferences

• Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
• Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
• Earth's Future
• Climate Engineering Conference
• American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting