Could artificially dimming the sun prevent ice melt?
With methods of so-called geoengineering, the climate could theoretically be artificially influenced and cooled. Researchers have now investigated whether it would be possible to prevent the melting of the West Antarctic ice sheet by artificially ‘dimming the sun’. The results show that artificial influence does not work without decarbonization and entails high risks.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate science
What began as a theory in the 1890s — that industrial emissions of carbon dioxide could increase global temperatures — had progressed to a scientific fact a century later. Scientists across a range of disciplines are studying the impact of the still-growing concentration of carbon dioxide and other so-called “greenhouse gases” in the atmosphere as they call for industrial and governmental policies to slow, then halt, the warming of the planet.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate: geoengineering
As the threat of climate change has gone from theoretical to apparent, proposals for a more aggressive attempt at mitigation through geoengineering have gained currency in some scientific corners, drawn skepticism or outright opposition in others. Prospects for geoengineering would likely improve in inverse proportion to prospects for nations to hit their emissions targets to slow, then reverse the warming of the planet.