WHAT IS SOLAR RADIATION MANAGEMENT?
Solar Radiation Management (SRM), also known as Climate Intervention, refers to a proposed set of methods aimed at reducing global warming by reflecting a small portion of sunlight back into space. This approach doesn’t address the root cause of climate change—greenhouse gas emissions—but instead attempts to counteract some of its effects by altering the Earth’s radiation balance.
HOW IT WORKS
SRM methods like SAI and MCB work on the principle of increasing Earth’s albedo (reflectivity) to reduce the amount of solar radiation absorbed by the planet. The basic steps for these methods are:
- Intervention: Reflective particles or substances are introduced into the atmosphere or clouds.
- Reflection: These particles reflect a small fraction of incoming sunlight back into space.
- Reduced heat absorption: Less solar energy reaches and is absorbed by the Earth’s surface.
- Cooling effect: The reduced absorption of solar energy leads to a cooling of the global temperature.
SAI mimics natural phenomena like volcanic eruptions, which can cause temporary global cooling by ejecting particles that form reflective aerosols in the stratosphere. MCB is inspired by the brightening of marine clouds that occurs due to their interaction with pollution particles emitted by ships.