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Towards a comprehensive climate impacts assessment of solar geoengineering

Irvine, Peter J.; Kravitz, Ben; Lawrence, Mark G.; Gerten, Dieter; Caminade, Cyril; Gosling, Simon N.; Hendy, Erica; Kassie, Belay; Kissling, W. Daniel; Muri, Helene; Oschlies, Andreas; Smith, Steven J.

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Authors

Peter J. Irvine

Ben Kravitz

Mark G. Lawrence

Dieter Gerten

Cyril Caminade

Dr SIMON GOSLING SIMON.GOSLING@NOTTINGHAM.AC.UK
Professor of Climate Risks and Environmental Modelling

Erica Hendy

Belay Kassie

W. Daniel Kissling

Helene Muri

Andreas Oschlies

Steven J. Smith



Abstract

Despite a growing literature on the climate response to solar geoengineering – proposals to cool the planet by increasing the planetary albedo – there has been little published on the impacts of solar geoengineering on natural and human systems such as agriculture, health, water resources, and ecosystems. An understanding of the impacts of different scenarios of solar geoengineering deployment will be crucial for informing decisions on whether and how to deploy it. Here we review the current state of knowledge about impacts of a solar geoengineered climate and identify major research gaps. We suggest that a thorough assessment of the climate impacts of a range of scenarios of solar geoengineering deployment is needed and can build upon existing frameworks. However, solar geoengineering poses a novel challenge for climate impacts research as the manner of deployment could be tailored to pursue different objectives making possible a wide range of climate outcomes. We present a number of ideas for approaches to extend the survey of climate impacts beyond standard scenarios of solar geoengineering deployment to address this challenge. Reducing the impacts of climate change is the fundamental motivator for emissions reductions and for considering whether and how to deploy solar geoengineering. This means that the active engagement of the climate impacts research community will be important for improving the overall understanding of the opportunities, challenges and risks presented by solar geoengineering.

Citation

Irvine, P. J., Kravitz, B., Lawrence, M. G., Gerten, D., Caminade, C., Gosling, S. N., …Smith, S. J. (2017). Towards a comprehensive climate impacts assessment of solar geoengineering. Earth's Future, 5(1), 93-106. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016EF000389

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Nov 17, 2016
Online Publication Date Nov 23, 2016
Publication Date 2017-01
Deposit Date Nov 23, 2016
Publicly Available Date Nov 23, 2016
Journal Earth's Future
Electronic ISSN 2328-4277
Publisher Wiley Open Access
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 5
Issue 1
Pages 93-106
DOI https://doi.org/10.1002/2016EF000389
Keywords climate impacts; climate change; geoengineering; climate engineering; solar radiation management; ISI-MIP
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/839196
Publisher URL http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2016EF000389/abstract
Contract Date Nov 23, 2016

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