A plan to utilise sulphur in the planet's atmosphere to mitigate the effects of global warming could have disastrous side effects, say researchers at the National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, CO.
Researchers at the NCAR have said schemes to inject sulphur into the Earth\'s stratosphere to reduce global warming will have disastrous sise effects. Photo: NCAR building, Boulder,CO. Credit: Daderot/Wikipedia
The proposed scheme involves the injecting of "sun-blocking" sulphur particles into the Earth's stratosphere to reduce the amount of sunlight and work alongside carbon emission reduction plans to cool the planet.
However a new study, led by the NCAR's Simone Tilmes, has described the associated effects of the sulphate scheme as "perilous".
"Our research indicates that trying to artificially cool off the planet could have perilous side effects," Tilmes says in a NCAR statement. "While climate change is a major threat, more research is required before society attempts global geoengineering solutions."
Tilmes and her colleagues at the NCAR examined the influence the pumping of the sulphate particles into the stratosphere would have on the thinning of the Earth's ozone layer and found that, though the sulphur itself did not destroy the ozone, it created chemical reactions which did.
The ozone layer is vital in that it absorbs 97-99% of the sun's harmful high frequency ultraviolet light.
The sulphates would also delay the recovery of the hole in the ozone layer over the Antarctic by 30 - 70 years, the researchers found.
"This study highlights another connection between global warming and ozone depletion," says co-author Ross Salawitch of the University of Maryland. "These traditionally had been thought of as separate problems but are now increasingly recognized to be coupled in subtle, yet profoundly important, manners."
The findings were published in the journal Science Express on April 24.
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