Open AccessGeoengineering with stratospheric aerosols: What do we not know after a decade of research?
Author(s) -
MacMartin Douglas G.,
Kravitz Ben,
Long Jane C. S.,
Rasch Philip J.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
earth's future
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.641
H-Index - 39
ISSN - 2328-4277
DOI - 10.1002/2016ef000418
Subject(s) - geoengineering , unintended consequences , climate change , balance (ability) , environmental science , political science , psychology , law , ecology , neuroscience , biology
Any well‐informed future decision on whether and how to deploy solar geoengineering requires balancing the impacts (both intended and unintended) of intervening in the climate against the impacts of not doing so. Despite tremendous progress in the last decade, the current state of knowledge remains insufficient to support an assessment of this balance, even for stratospheric aerosol geoengineering ( SAG ), arguably the best understood (practical) geoengineering method. We articulate key unknowns associated with SAG , including both climate‐science and design questions, as an essential step toward developing a future strategic research program that could address outstanding uncertainties.