Tracking Device Experiments to Alter the Climate
The United States is building a system to detect when and where geoengineering experiments are taking place to alter the climate. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Department of Energy are working together to track “solar geoengineering” endeavors. This involves injecting chemical aerosols into the stratosphere to reflect sunlight and reduce the effects of climate change.
However, many scientists are worried that these efforts could do more harm than good, causing destructive weather patterns or benefiting some countries more than others. As a result, the NOAA is strengthening its surveillance of these projects as institutions and individual groups begin pilot testing geoengineering concepts.
The NOAA’s Chemical Sciences Laboratory has begun deploying large balloons with equipment to detect aerosol levels in the clouds. These balloons are sent miles above the planet’s surface and report back to the NOAA with the locations and amounts of unusual aerosol concentrations in the stratosphere, allowing them to track where geoengineering is taking place.
While a growing number of countries have taken formal pledges not to engage in solar geoengineering, there are still concerns that other nations or groups may forge ahead with the untested technology or attempt to do these sorts of projects in secret. The NOAA’s aerosol tracking program may also help scientists to learn more about the longer-term effects of these projects.
A senior scientist at Sandia National Laboratories has developed an algorithm that can predict what effects may come from aerosols introduced to the atmosphere intentionally. This algorithm, combined with the NOAA’s tracking balloons, should be able to help the US figure out whether and where sun-dimming efforts are happening and begin to understand what effects they will have.
