PNNL

Abstract

Solar geoengineering has been proposed as a temporary means of alleviating some of the consequences of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Some modeling studies have shown that various side effects from solar geoengineering are likely to occur, including a weaker monsoon system in India, Asia, and the Sahel. However, many of these results are from single model studies using different greenhouse gas concentration profiles and different amounts of geoengineering, making intercomparison difficult. The Geoengineering Model Intercomparison Project (GeoMIP) has created a framework of four core simulations to allow for model intercomparison, revealing robust features and key uncertainties of climate model responses to geoengineering (B. Kravitz et al., The Geoengineering Model Intercomparison Project (GeoMIP), Atmos. Sci. Lett., 12(2), 162-167, doi:10.1002/asl.316, 2011). These experiments simulate solar geoengineering via uniform solar reduction or creation of stratospheric sulfate aerosol layers using state-of-the-art climate models.