Climate change has created compelling headlines on nearly a daily basis, and consistently scientists discover new ways that the world is being influenced. Atmospheric scientists are now working on what is called solar radiation management projects. These are efforts to limit existing climate change, in particular, sun dimming.
The purpose of the sun-dimming project is to “reduce the amount of sunlight hitting the Earth to counteract the effects of climate change.” As a part of facing the changing global climate, Dr. Peter Braesicke from the Centre for Atmospheric Science at Cambridge University has focused on the impacts of a dimming sun on teleconnections. Dr. Braesicke had collaborated with colleagues Olaf Morgenstern and John Pyle, to determine that “global dimming can occur as a reaction to fossil fuels or as a result of volcanic eruptions, however the consequence of deliberate sun dimming as a geoengineering tool are unknown.”
Dr. Braesicke and his team had hypothesized that there would be a direct link to teleconnections, which would impact climate globally, and are investigating the effects of sun dimming on the Earth. Braesicke indicated that impacts could be seen for the El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO), which would help to view variability of temperatures in the atmosphere with a dimmed sun.
The possibility of a dimmed sun would likely “change the overall temperature structure in Earth’s atmosphere, which would likely exhibit a cooling in the atmosphere”, according to Braesicke. Earth’s atmosphere is comprised of several important layers; troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere and exosphere. Focusing on the troposphere, which is comprised of the atmosphere of the surface to about 10km, there would be decreases in temperature due to the decreased amount of incoming solar radiation reaching the ground, thus allowing less radiation to be transformed into heat. Current radiation processes can be viewed in Earth’s radiation budget. In the stratosphere heating is reduced due to the decreased amount of shortwave radiation available for absorption by ozone.
Teleconnections would likely be modified in the future due to varying temperature and radiational changes. These interactions are shown in research done by Braesicke. This research shows temperature changes which have transformed from the standard pole-ward pattern to a pattern over the Pacific region that takes place when solar irradiance is reduced. By assessing the models over time while inputting the latest observations, Braesicke and his coworkers can find more consequences of an intentional sun dimming on our atmosphere. The researchers are then using these models to determine if deliberate sun dimming can ultimately be used at a geo-engineering tool in the future.
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