Scientists Want To Mimic Volcano Eruptions To Cool Earth

With the planet warming at an accelerated rate, scientists are coming up with ever more creative ways to head off a catastrophe. Now there’s a plan to actually mimic volcano eruptions in order to cool the temperature of the planet. However, there are other scientists who have published a new paper arguing against the plan because it could potentially do more harm than good.

Solar geoengineering is basically the concept of spraying aerosol into the atmosphere that will bounce sunlight back into space, Futurism reports. Scientists have proposed this method as a means of reducing the amount of heat that is trapped in the Earth’s atmosphere. This is essentially what happens when a volcano erupts.

However, a new study published in Nature Communications by University of Exeter researchers indicate that this should not be done haphazardly. That is to say, conducting solar geoengineering in just one hemisphere could have potentially devastating effects throughout the world.

According to the findings, conducting solar geoengineering in the Northern Hemisphere could reduce the number of cyclones that come from the North Atlantic, but it could lead to a drought in the Sahel region of Africa. Doing it in the Southern Hemisphere would have the opposite effect, in that it would increase the number cyclones.

In the university press release, lead author Anthony Jones argues that solar geoengineering is an extremely risky proposition. It might alleviate the damage of climate change in some parts of the world but others will only experience increased destruction.

“Our results confirm that regional solar geoengineering is a highly risky strategy which could simultaneously benefit one region to the detriment of another,” Jones said. “It is vital that policymakers take solar geoengineering seriously and act swiftly to install effective regulation.”

Other climate scientists like Ken Caldeira from the Carnegie Institution for Science disagrees with Jones’ reservation, saying that the science behind solar geoengineering is sound. In any event, doing nothing at this point would only lead to worldwide calamities anyway.