Sunday, November 7, 2010

-POSTPONED- Shooting SOx into the Upper Atmosphere

Whew.

"Plan B" solutions to climate change are both intriguing and terrifying, and attendees of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Ngoya, Japan focused on the latter. Included in their agreement was a moratorium on any geoengineering projects (excluding research-scale studies) that could possibly endanger the planet's biodiversity. Some are skeptical of this decision, but I've always believed that messing with nature results in unintended consequences. Research on the topic is growing at warp speed, which is great. Implementation is a whole other ball game. I hope we take our time.

Some Plan B solutions:
  1. Iron fertilization of the ocean: Fertilizing the ocean would cause massive phytoplankton blooms. The photosynthesis rates of these organisms could sequester mass amounts of carbon dioxide.
  2. Shoot SOx or sulfuric acid into the stratosphere: The particles would reflect sunlight away from the Earth, causing cooling. This  is meant to imitate volcanoes, which eject these particles and temporarily cool the surrounding area.
  3. Shoot salt water into marine clouds: This would make clouds more white and reflective.
  4. Carbon sequestration through mass air capture: Large man-made contraptions would suck carbon dioxide out of the air so that the gas could be sequestered underground.
  5. Liming oceans: By dumping calcium oxide (from calcium carbonate - limestone)  into the oceans, alkalinity would increase, and more carbon dioxide gas would dissolve, removing it from the air. 
Left to right: an algal bloom in Qingdao, China; a volcano spewing ash and SOx into the air; an "artist's" depiction of air carbon capture

You can also listen to the story on NPR.

Is anyone thinking that these would make some great it's-the-end-of-the-world-oh-my movies? Throw in some Dennis Quaid and Jake Gyllenhaal, and we have ourselves a blockbuster.


A few random notes:
Money on My Mind:
With a Republican majority in the House, the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Association (NOAA), which funds my research project, may have its funding cut by 34%.
"Urban Decay":
In response to those who believe city composting is a means to no end, check out this article Sloane sent me.

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