麻豆淫院

A multi-institutional team of climatologists, meteorologists and Earth scientists has found evidence that dropping diamond dust from an airplane into the atmosphere could cool the planet. In their study in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, the group used 3D climate models to compare aerosols that might be used to cool the planet.

Prior research has shown that Earth is at or near a tipping point鈥攚arming of the planet has led to changes in global weather patterns that may only grow worse as the planet grows warmer. If true, some argue that the only solution at this point is rapidly finding a way to cool the planet. Some scientists have proposed deploying millions of devices that pull carbon from the air, which could then be sequestered.

The problem with that is, if we have hit a tipping point, removing the carbon will not help鈥攚e have to find a way not just to reduce warming, but to actively cool down the planet. The only way to do that, most in the field agree, is to inject aerosols into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight and heat back into space.

The leading candidate for such an endeavor right now is sulfur dioxide. Because it is spewed naturally into the atmosphere by volcanoes, scientists have a pretty good idea of what would happen if humans began injecting it artificially. The downside is that it could cause acid rain around the globe. It could also harm the ozone layer and would likely disrupt weather patterns in the lower atmosphere.

In this new effort, the researchers wondered which sort of material would best serve as a planet cooling medium. To find out, they built a 3D climate model that showed the impact of adding aerosols to the atmosphere. The software also included effects of different aerosols, such as light and heat reflection, how aerosols would eventually settle to the ground, and whether they would clump together in the atmosphere, retaining more heat.

The research team then modeled the impact on the Earth of injections of seven candidates: calcite, diamond, aluminum, silicon carbide, anatase, rutile and sulfur dioxide. It showed that diamond dust would be the best option鈥攖he particles would reflect the most light and heat, they would stay aloft for a reasonable amount of time, and would not be likely to clump. The researchers note that because they are chemically inert, it is unlikely that they would react to form acid rain.

The model suggested that injecting 5 million tons of synthetic diamond dust into the atmosphere per year could cool the Earth by 1.6掳C in 45 years. The downside, of course, would be the huge cost鈥攁pproximately $200 trillion.

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