Researchers Are Working on ‘Dimming the Sun’ in a Desperate Attempt to Cool the Planet

A new scheme is under process to reverse the effects of global warming by deflecting sunlight through technical means.

PUBLISHED 2 DAYS AGO

Image of the Sun shining in the sky as dusk falls. (Representative Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Elvis Tam/500px)

While the damage is done, humans are trying to reverse the impact of global warming with desperate attempts to cool the Earth. This ideology has given birth to a new discipline– solar geoengineering. Using this scheme, researchers will try to repair the critically rising temperatures by blocking or deflecting the sunlight from the planet, resulting in cooler temperatures, per a study published in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. It involves a complex process inspired by the functioning of volcanoes, where certain particles are released that pace up the cooling of the molten lava.

Planet Earth burning due to global warming. (Representative Image Source: Getty Images | DrPixel)

New scientific scheme to dim the sun

The question arises– how can one possibly dim the Sun? The idea is to spray highly reflective particles, like sulfur, into the stratosphere to prevent the intense sun rays from entering the Earth’s atmosphere. In the Philippines, Mt. Pinatubo underwent a massive volcanic eruption in 1992, and the after-cooling significantly lowered temperatures in the region for two years. However, the project is far from implementation as Dan Schrag, the director of Harvard University Center for the Environment implied in an interview, as per The New Yorker.

A view of Earth from the Space Shuttle Discovery shows late afternoon sun on the Andes Mountains, with glare and heavy cloud illumination. (Image Source: Getty Images | Bettman)

“I’m not saying they’ll do it tomorrow. I feel like we might have thirty years,” the researcher, who is also associated with the advisory board of a particular geoengineering-research project in Harvard, once told the author of Under A White Sky, Elizabeth Kolbert. Meanwhile, other researchers are trying to cut down the estimated time of implementation and digging deep into the emerging discipline of solar radiation management.

Thermometer at agricultural field with dry soil and small plants. (Representative Image Source: Getty Images | the_burtons)

Since 1880, The average global temperature on Earth has increased by 1.1 degrees C, with a rate of 0.15 degrees to 0.20 degrees C per decade, according to a report by NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change emphasizes the need to wind down worldwide emissions to half by 2030. The foremost method proposed to achieve this goal is by switching from fossil fuels to clean energy or renewable sources, like solar and wind.

What would be the aftermath of solar geoengineering?

Solar geoengineering is a highly simplified effort to revert the effects of CO2 emissions, that has occurred through hundreds of years to bring about global warming issues today. With that comparison, attempts to dim the sun using reflective particles or spraying aerosols shall administer the instant effects of rapid cooling. However, it is worth considering the aftermath of such an endeavor. Besides the billions of dollars estimated to be spent in the scheme, it could transform the sky into hazy or milky.

Young woman shielding with hands from the sun. (Representative Image Source: Getty Images | RunPhoto)

Also, the dimming of sunlight will certainly affect the photosynthesis process in plants globally and also damage the only-repairing ozone layer once again. The scheme could potentially unleash a chain of weather events, mimicking climate change overall. All in all, an official transition to clean energy resources will be affordable and less expensive to the environment. In light of that, electric vehicles (EVs) and solar-powered applications are on the rise in market trends, per a report by Deloitte. Therefore, full-fledged attempts to tackle the threatening aftermath of a heating planet are actively being looked into.