Solar geoengineering to help cool the planet may significantly impact storm tracks

One of many potential ways to reduce global warming is solar geoengineering.

Solar geoengineering involves injecting the Earth's stratosphere with reflective aerosols by way of airplanes, balloons or blimps. The aerosols would have a cooling influence on the Earth's surface by reducing the amount of solar radiation reaching the surface. This is similar to the short-term global cooling that we see after major volcanic eruptions that spew tremendous amounts of ash and aerosols high into the stratosphere.

Examples of climate engineering technologies. Courtesy GAO.

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have determined that solar geoengineering may significantly alter extratropical storm tracks.

Based on a number of climate model scenarios, solar geoengineering would likely weaken storm tracks anywhere from 5 to 17 percent in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres.

Weaker storm tracks would lead to less intense winter storms, but potentially more stagnant conditions during the summer.

Key excerpt from the MIT News report......

“A weakened storm track, in both hemispheres, would mean weaker winter storms but also lead to more stagnant weather, which could affect heat waves,” said Charles Gertler, a graduate student in MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. “Across all seasons, this could affect ventilation of air pollution. It also may contribute to a weakening of the hydrological cycle, with regional reductions in rainfall. These are not good changes, compared to a baseline climate that we are used to.”