Latest news with #RaymondPierrehumbert
Metro
08-05-2025
- Science
- Metro
UK plans to 'dim the sun' gets £57,000,000 funding - but what's the point
The process of 'dimming the sun' sounds like something from a dystopian film but this could be reality soon. A government backed body called the Advanced Research and Innovation Agency (ARIA) is funding £57million for it. But what is dimming the sun and what is the point of it? We take a look below. Dimming the sun, is known in scientific terms as Solar Radiation Modification (SRM), and is the process of reflecting the sun back into the atmosphere. Some scientists hope this will temporarily limit rising temperatures on Earth. One potential way of doing this is spraying a fine mist of natural sea water into the atmosphere from a coastal location in the UK. This they hope would brighten existing cloud and increase the reflectivity. Another technique would be to take sulfate aerosols into a weather balloon, release them into the stratosphere, which then scatter sunlight back into space. Professor Stuart Haszeldine, Professor of Carbon Capture and Storage at the University of Edinburgh, has welcomed the research. He said: 'Humans are losing the battle against climate change. Engineering cooling is necessary because in spite of measurements and meetings and international treaties during the past 70 years, the annual emissions of greenhouse gases have continued to increase. 'The world is heading towards heating greater than any time in our civilisation. 'Many natural processes are reaching a tipping point, where the earth may jump into a different pattern of behaviour.' The whole point of something like this is the fact that are world is getting hotter. In 2024, global average temperatures were running at 1.6°C above pre-industrial levels. By the end of the 2030s, this picture only gets worse, with current trajectories showing the world passing 1.5°C of long-term warming. But critics are worried about the impact this will have on human health and on our weather systems, such as the warming of polar regions and increased rainfall. More Trending The ARIA has said that 'before any outdoor experiment takes place there will be a full and transparent public consultation with necessary environmental assessments taken place'. And any outdoor experimentation 'will only occur after robust oversight measures which won't include the release of any toxic materials'. One of those worried is Raymond Pierrehumbert, Professor of Planetary Physics at Oxford University, who said: 'People want a Plan B if we don't reduce global emissions. But there really is no Plan B, it just kicks the can down the road because [solar geo-engineering] doesn't take away the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. 'Now the UK is pouring nearly £70 million into this and opening the door to outside experimentation, then that's just going to open the floodgates to other countries that may have fewer controls.' Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Could the conflict between India and Pakistan lead to nuclear war? MORE: Met Office gives verdict on bank holiday weather after record warm start to May MORE: Enjoy the warmth while you can – it's fizzling out just in time for the bank holiday
The Guardian
14-03-2025
- Science
- The Guardian
Climate research into cloud barriers or Arctic refreezing is worth funding
As a climate scientist working on solar geoengineering, I was struck by Raymond Pierrehumbert and Michael Mann's call to defund the UK's Advanced Research and Invention Agency (Aria) research programme (The UK's gamble on solar geoengineering is like using aspirin for cancer, 12 March). Given current emission projections, it is likely that the world will reach 2C of warming. The only potential tool we have to reduce temperatures on a short timescale is solar geoengineering. It is necessary to reduce emissions, but once we reach net zero, global temperatures only stabilise, and the melting of glaciers and sea level rise will continue. While it is possible to remove carbon from the atmosphere, it remains slow and expensive for now. Solar geoengineering research is important because it is possible that the climate will react more strongly to greenhouse gases than expected, and even 2C of warming might have devastating impacts. It is undeniable that solar geoengineering has physical and political risks, and I share many of the concerns the authors raise. However, a warmer world that would increasingly become uninhabitable is also risky. Hence the risks of solar geoengineering must be balanced with the risks from the warming that would be attenuated. Climate model evidence suggests that some important hazards linked to climate change could be limited with a judicious deployment of solar geoengineering. However, climate models contain many uncertainties that well‑governed, small-scale outdoor experiments may enable us to reduce. While more research and higher‑quality information on solar geoengineering are not sufficient to guarantee good decision-making about it in the future, they are certainly a prerequisite. I welcome the UK government's investment in solar geoengineering Matthew HenryPostdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Exeter Your article is misjudged. Yes we must transform fossil fuel use and deploy carbon capture. But humans are losing the battle and we can't afford an either/or argument. Just as low-dose aspirin use may protect against cancer, low-dose prevention of heat using sulphur, manufactured clouds, Arctic refreezing or aiding flow of crucial ocean currents may be able to aid climate control. In fact, it might be the only chance we have. So please, UK, spend £57m and more on geoengineering research Stuart HaszeldineSchool of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
