March 9, 2016: Climate Engineering Efforts to fight Global warming

March 9, 2016: Climate Engineering Efforts to fight Global warming

General Studies: Daily Capsule

Curtain Raiser –News Update (March 9, 2016)

Climate Engineering Efforts to fight Global warming:

Climate Engineering Efforts can be divided into two categories: the management of carbon and the management of sunlight

The management of carbon is directed towards removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. A prominent example is carbon capture and storage (CCS). Another method for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is to increase forest cover as plants will absorb some of the unwanted carbon dioxide.

The management of sunlight i.e. Solar Radiation Management: Here the plan is to reduce global warming by cutting down the heat absorbed by our planet from the sun. Stratospheric Aerosol Injection (SAI) is one of the examples under this category.

Stratospheric Aerosol Injection (SAI): involves spraying into the stratosphere fine, light coloured particles designed to reflect back part of the solar radiation before it reaches and warms the earth. SAI research is still at a theoretical and laboratory level.

Source: Cooling the earth down by R. Rajaraman, March 9, 2016, The Hindu