385 - Solar Geoengineering

omega tau science & engineering podcast

Gast: David Keith Host: Markus Völter Shownoter: Alexander Grote

The root cause of global warming is that more and more of the energy supplied by the sun is captured by the atmosphere because of increased amounts of CO2 and other climate gases. One way of fixing this is to make sure that more of that energy is reflected and never even penetrates the lower atmosphere. Solar geoengineering proposes to put particles into the upper atmosphere to increase its reflectivity and thereby reduce the temperature. In the episode I talk with Harvard’s David Keith about some of the technical aspects, which role this technique can play in the overall fight against climate change, some of the political challenges as well as current avenues of research.

Introduction of Peter Keith and to stratospheric aerosol injection

00:08:37

David Keith | Albedo | Cirrus cloud | Stratosphere | Tropopause | Aerosol | Stratospheric aerosol injection | Sulfuric acid | Pinatubo | Lockheed U-2 | Feedback Loop

Unintended effects and moral implications

00:29:05

Rocket plume | Trolley Problem | Precautionary principle | Ozone depletion | Cost of climate change | Geo Engineering | IPCC

Climate Model simulations and issues

00:54:22

Gaussian Grid | Plume

Chapters

1. Introduction of Peter Keith and to stratospheric aerosol injection (00:08:37)

2. Unintended effects and moral implications (00:29:05)

3. Climate Model simulations and issues (00:54:22)