World Climate Research Programme lighthouse activity: an assessment of major research gaps in solar radiation modification research
It is increasingly evident that maintaining global warming at levels below those agreed in the legally binding international treaty on climate change. i.e., the Paris Agreement, is going to be extremely challenging using conventional mitigation techniques. While future scenarios of climate change fr...
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| Format: | Article |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Climate |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fclim.2025.1507479/full |
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| author | Jim M. Haywood Olivier Boucher Chris Lennard Trude Storelvmo Simone Tilmes Daniele Visioni |
| author_facet | Jim M. Haywood Olivier Boucher Chris Lennard Trude Storelvmo Simone Tilmes Daniele Visioni |
| author_sort | Jim M. Haywood |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | It is increasingly evident that maintaining global warming at levels below those agreed in the legally binding international treaty on climate change. i.e., the Paris Agreement, is going to be extremely challenging using conventional mitigation techniques. While future scenarios of climate change frequently include extensive use of terrestrial and marine carbon dioxide removal in the second part of the 21st century, it is unproven that these techniques can be scaled-up to reach the scale required to significantly reduce concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide and significant uncertainties and detrimental side-effects exist. These issues have led to increasing interest in so-called “Solar Radiation Modification” whereby the global mean temperature of the Earth is reduced by either blocking a small fraction of sunlight from reaching it or by increasing the Earth’s albedo to reflect a small proportion of incident sunlight back out to space. Here we systematically identify key research gaps associated with the two most prominent Solar Radiation Modification techniques, i.e., Stratospheric Aerosol Injection (SAI) and Marine Cloud Brightening (MCB). We provide an assessment of the research gaps associated with other less prominent SRM techniques. We assert that transparency and inclusivity in SRM research is essential in providing objective and impartial research findings to each and every stakeholder in an equitable way. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-98f10f3123a74b479b3e6555b07b9397 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2624-9553 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Climate |
| spelling | doaj-art-98f10f3123a74b479b3e6555b07b93972025-02-05T07:32:52ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Climate2624-95532025-02-01710.3389/fclim.2025.15074791507479World Climate Research Programme lighthouse activity: an assessment of major research gaps in solar radiation modification researchJim M. Haywood0Olivier Boucher1Chris Lennard2Trude Storelvmo3Simone Tilmes4Daniele Visioni5Faculty of Environment, Science and Economics, University of Exeter, Exeter, United KingdomInstitut Pierre-Simon Laplace, Sorbonne Université/CNRS, Paris, FranceClimate System Analysis Group, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South AfricaDepartment of Geosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, NorwayNational Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, United StatesDepartment of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United StatesIt is increasingly evident that maintaining global warming at levels below those agreed in the legally binding international treaty on climate change. i.e., the Paris Agreement, is going to be extremely challenging using conventional mitigation techniques. While future scenarios of climate change frequently include extensive use of terrestrial and marine carbon dioxide removal in the second part of the 21st century, it is unproven that these techniques can be scaled-up to reach the scale required to significantly reduce concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide and significant uncertainties and detrimental side-effects exist. These issues have led to increasing interest in so-called “Solar Radiation Modification” whereby the global mean temperature of the Earth is reduced by either blocking a small fraction of sunlight from reaching it or by increasing the Earth’s albedo to reflect a small proportion of incident sunlight back out to space. Here we systematically identify key research gaps associated with the two most prominent Solar Radiation Modification techniques, i.e., Stratospheric Aerosol Injection (SAI) and Marine Cloud Brightening (MCB). We provide an assessment of the research gaps associated with other less prominent SRM techniques. We assert that transparency and inclusivity in SRM research is essential in providing objective and impartial research findings to each and every stakeholder in an equitable way.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fclim.2025.1507479/fullSRMgeoengineeringstratospheric aerosol injectionmarine cloud brighteningcirrus cloud thinning |
| spellingShingle | Jim M. Haywood Olivier Boucher Chris Lennard Trude Storelvmo Simone Tilmes Daniele Visioni World Climate Research Programme lighthouse activity: an assessment of major research gaps in solar radiation modification research Frontiers in Climate SRM geoengineering stratospheric aerosol injection marine cloud brightening cirrus cloud thinning |
| title | World Climate Research Programme lighthouse activity: an assessment of major research gaps in solar radiation modification research |
| title_full | World Climate Research Programme lighthouse activity: an assessment of major research gaps in solar radiation modification research |
| title_fullStr | World Climate Research Programme lighthouse activity: an assessment of major research gaps in solar radiation modification research |
| title_full_unstemmed | World Climate Research Programme lighthouse activity: an assessment of major research gaps in solar radiation modification research |
| title_short | World Climate Research Programme lighthouse activity: an assessment of major research gaps in solar radiation modification research |
| title_sort | world climate research programme lighthouse activity an assessment of major research gaps in solar radiation modification research |
| topic | SRM geoengineering stratospheric aerosol injection marine cloud brightening cirrus cloud thinning |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fclim.2025.1507479/full |
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