Space dust as Earth’s sun shield

Phys.org  February 8, 2023 A team of researchers in the US (University of Utah, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory) explored the potential of using dust to shield sunlight. They analyzed different properties of dust particles, quantities of dust and the orbits that would be best suited for shading Earth. They found launching dust from Earth to a way station at the “Lagrange Point” between Earth and the sun (L1) would be most effective. To achieve sunlight attenuation of 1.8%, equivalent to about 6 days per year of an obscured Sun, the mass of dust in the scenarios they considered must exceed 1010 […]

Finding the right ‘dose’ for solar geoengineering

Science Daily  March 11, 2019 Applying huge doses of solar geoengineering to offset all warming from rising atmospheric C02 levels could worsen the climate problem — particularly rainfall patterns — in certain regions. However, through modeling, a team of researchers in the US (Harvard University, MIT, Princeton University Georgia Institute of Technology) found that if solar geoengineering (SG) is used to cut global temperature increases in half, no IPCC-defined region is made worse off in any of the major climate impact indicators. Climate models suggest that geoengineering could enable surprisingly uniform benefits. The model indicates that SG moderates changes in […]