Scientists plan on dimming the sun to stop climate change

As an attempt to combat climate change, scientists are trying new ways to lessen its effects and one of the way is to ‘dim the sun’.

They introduced this method that would call for release of sulphate aerosols in the upper atmosphere. It would then reflect few sun rays back into space that would in turn reduce the climate change rate. This move will also put an end to the harmful effects posed by climate change including coral bleaching, and growing happenings and intensity of hurricanes.

Scientist James Crabbe from the University of Bedfordshire mentioned, “We show very convincingly that, by injecting sulphur dioxide in the atmosphere, sea surface temperatures would decrease significantly by 2069.”

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Through computer models, Crabbe’s team replicated the results after the implementation of this plan. The simulation showed that the introduction of solar geo-engineering prevented coral bleaching through keeping the region’s ocean temperatures from rising. Apart from that, the hurricane frequency was also reduced giving coral reefs more time to recover from the storms, reported Futurism.

However, a critic Rob Bellamy from University of Oxford stated, “One of the main concerns with solar radiation management is not necessarily its effectiveness, but its side effects.” Warning further about the problems that would rise by disrupting the ecosystems, he said, “It could disrupt regional weather patterns and monsoons.”

People believe that these alterations can influence people both regionally and locally. When some people would see benefits, other would have to deal with the negative effects.

Bellamy also believes that there is a potential risk that the geo-engineering systems could be abruptly turned off. “What if the system was stopped through a terrorist attack? Global temperatures would jump back to where they would have been without geo-engineering.”

New Scientist reported, Crabbe however expressed, “We don’t know… what would happen to the marine environment in that scenario. But the situation is currently so extreme that we have to make provisions.”