Abstract
Fossil fuel burning releases about 25 Pg of CO2 per year into the atmosphere, which leads to global warming (Prentice et al. 2001). However, it also emits 55 Tg S as SO2 per year (Stern 2005), about half of which is converted to sub-micrometer size sulfate particles, the remainder being dry deposited. Recent research has shown that the warming of earth by the increasing concentrations of CO2 and other greenhouse gases is partially countered by some backscattering to space of solar radiation by the sulfate particles, which act as cloud condensation nuclei and thereby influence the micro-physical and optical properties of clouds, affecting regional precipitation patterns, and increasing cloud albedo (e.g., Rosenfeld 2000; Ramanathan et al. 2001; Ramaswamy et al. 2001).
This text was first published as: Crutzen, Paul J. “Albedo enhancement by stratospheric sulfur injections: a contribution to resolve a policy dilemma?”. Climatic Change (Springer) 77 (3–4): 211–219. The permission to include this text here was granted on 28 August 2015 by Rights and Permissions, Springer Science + Business Media in Heidelberg. Thanks go to many colleagues, in particular Ron Nielsen for advice on cost estimates, and to him, and colleagues V. Ramanathan, Jos Lelieveld, Carl Brenninkmeijer, Mark Lawrence, Yoya Joseph, and Henning Rodhe for advice and criticism on this paper. Part of this study was conducted during a stay at the International Institute of Advanced Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Laxenburg, Austria and discussed with Bob Ayres and Arnulf Grübler.
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Crutzen, P.J. (2016). Albedo Enhancement by Stratospheric Sulfur Injections: A Contribution to Resolve a Policy Dilemma? An Editorial Essay. In: Crutzen, P., Brauch, H. (eds) Paul J. Crutzen: A Pioneer on Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate Change in the Anthropocene. SpringerBriefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice(), vol 50. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27460-7_11
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