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- Title
Reduced Poleward Transport Due to Stratospheric Heating Under Stratospheric Aerosols Geoengineering.
- Authors
Visioni, Daniele; MacMartin, Douglas G.; Kravitz, Ben; Lee, Walker; Simpson, Isla R.; Richter, Jadwiga H.
- Abstract
By injecting SO2 into the stratosphere at four latitudes (30°, 15°N/S), it might be possible not only to reduce global mean surface temperature but also to minimize changes in the equator‐to‐pole and inter‐hemispheric gradients of temperature, further reducing some of the impacts arising from climate change relative to equatorial injection. This can happen only if the aerosols are transported to higher latitudes by the stratospheric circulation, ensuring that a greater part of the solar radiation is reflected back to space at higher latitudes, compensating for the reduced sunlight. However, the stratospheric heating produced by these aerosols modifies the circulation and strengthens the stratospheric polar vortex which acts as a barrier to the transport of air toward the poles. We show how the heating results in a feedback where increasing injection rates lead to stronger high‐latitudinal transport barriers. This implies a potential limitation in the high‐latitude aerosol burden and subsequent cooling. Plain Language Summary: If we were to inject aerosols at high altitudes in order to reflect some incoming solar radiation and cool the planet, it would result in a localized warming at those altitudes. This would affect the circulation of air masses, and we show here that it would reduce the intensity of the transport of air from the mid‐latitudes to the poles. If this transport is reduced, less aerosol can reach the high latitudes, making it harder to achieve a distribution of aerosols that would offset global warming evenly. Key Points: The stratospheric injection of SO2 would result in localized stratospheric warmingThis warming would modify the thermal wind balance, strengthening the stratospheric polar vortexesThis results in less poleward transport of the aerosols, requiring more SO2 to achieve the desired cooling
- Subjects
STRATOSPHERIC aerosols; HEATING; ENVIRONMENTAL engineering; STRATOSPHERIC circulation; POLAR vortex; GLOBAL warming; QUASI-biennial oscillation (Meteorology)
- Publication
Geophysical Research Letters, 2020, Vol 47, Issue 17, p1
- ISSN
0094-8276
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1029/2020GL089470