This is Part One of a two-part story. Find Part Two here. A 2023 study published in JGR Atmospheres found that implementing a global solar geoengineering project could slow the melting of the increasingly threatened West Antarctic Ice Sheet. That’s important because last year scientists determined that climate change has made the collapse of that ice sheet “unavoidable” — with geoengineering posing a plausible last-ditch chance to save it and the world from eventual catastrophic sea-level rise. Researchers modeled how deploying tiny sulfur droplets in the stratosphere at multiple points around the globe, a technology dubbed stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI), could reflect sunlight back into space and buy humanity time by keeping Antarctica cool. A similar study published in Nature Climate Change found that SAI could significantly slow melt in Antarctica with a chance, though less than a certain one, of preventing the ice sheet’s collapse if started early in a low-emissions scenario. (Global carbon emissions from fossil fuels hit a record high in 2023, making a low-emissions scenario look increasingly doubtful.) Why does all this matter? Because a total collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet could ultimately raise sea levels by 3.3 to 4.3 meters (10.8 to 14.1 feet), remaking our civilization — and not in a good way. “Yes, climate engineering can sound sci-fi, and it can be scary — it probably should scare us all. But climate change is scarier,” says Paul Goddard, lead author of the JGR Atmospheres study. The total loss of the West…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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South Africa Today – Environment
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