Plan to reverse global warming could backfire

But such cooling would come with unintended side effects. She said sulfate injections could react with chlorine gasses in cold polar regions, triggering a chemical reaction that would further deplete atmospheric ozone.

Tilmes and colleagues looked specifically at the impact of plans to repair holes in the ozone over the poles and concluded that regular injections of sulfates over the next few decades would destroy between one-fourth to three-fourths of the ozone layer above the Arctic.

That would affect a large part of the Northern Hemisphere because of atmospheric circulation patterns, they said. The impact would be less during the second half of the century because of international pacts to ban the production of ozone-depleting chemicals.

In the Antarctic, a sulfate-injection scheme would delay the recovery of the ozone hole by 30 to 70 years, or at least until the last decade of this century.

Tilmes and colleagues used different measurements and computer models to make their predictions.

She said her findings did not close the door on the idea of artificially cooling the planet in that way but raised a flag of caution.

“We need people to have atmospheric models to understand the process in more detail,” she said in a telephone interview.

http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSN2435161220080424?pageNumber=2&virt

We Are Change UK – Phil Hayton and WTC7

Members of We Are Change UK interview ex BBC World presenter, Phil Hayton.