To slow global warming, we would have to “dry” the Earth

© Pixabay/josealbafotos

Use the inventions of recent centuries to put them at the service of the fight against global warming. This is summed up in one sentence the geoengineering project. In this broad area of ​​study, there is no shortage of proposals, all promising reductions in the greenhouse effect or in the Earth's surface temperature.

In a recent article published in the journal Science Advances, a group of researchers has just proposed a new method to combat global warming. Scientists explain in fact that they would like to 'dry up' the soil. the upper layers of the atmosphere, including the stratosphere, to reduce the greenhouse effect.

Water, a powerful greenhouse gas

Global warming is closely linked to greenhouse gases. If the explosion in the emission of the latter is caused by human activity, greenhouse gases existed long before the presence of humans on Earth.

This is specifically the case of two historic gases on our planet, carbon dioxide (CO2) and water vapor (H2O). The latter has a significant impact on global warming, without it, the average surface temperature would be -18°C.

Dry the sky

The idea of ​​scientists would therefore be to dry out the sky. This “intentional stratospheric dehydration”could allow, thanks to a slight seeding of clouds, to cool the planet. An ideal scenario for the defenders of this project, who assure that seeding will be very limited.

Nevertheless, such a project presents risks. Scientists have already demonstrated that cloud seeding could in rare cases create cirrus clouds. These hot clouds would not be able to cool the Earth, on the contrary, they could warm it.

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Geoengineering: the solution to all our problems?

Defenders of geoengineering propose several very different solutions to limit global warming. If cloud seeding seems to be the easiest solution to access, the idea of ​​placing a parasol is ideal. in orbit is also coming to an end.

But these proposals also have their detractors. In the case of ecologists, many regret that geoengineering is only a capital solution to produce and consume ever more while the climate situation requires, in an emergency, the need to do so. exact inverse.

On the other side of the table, defenders of geoengineering assure that the development of this technology is only one way among many. others” to fight the climate problem. Drying out the sky will make the Earth slightly more livable, but pollution will still be there and we will have to fight against the consequences, particularly health ones, linked to its presence.

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