Geoengineering: Is it possible to influence the weather?

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Find out how current and future geoengineering technologies can be used to control the climate.

According to the Oxford Geoengineering Programme, "geoengineering" is used to describe the manipulation of weather to combat the effects of global warming. Carbon dioxide removal and solar geoengineering are the broad categories under which these techniques fall.

Global warming and ocean acidification can be prevented by reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Earth's stratosphere. A third strategy is a solar geoengineering, which aims to re-direct sunlight toward the Sun. Some of the geoengineering processes that have been proposed and implemented are shown here. "

Does it make sense for us to control the weather?

Individuals, local communities, and our planet all feel the effects of changes in the weather, even if it's only a passing mention in passing conversation. Droughts in some countries can last for years, while others are constantly at risk of flooding. Extreme weather varies significantly by country, but one trend in climate is universal, according to the UN: rising temperatures worldwide.

Scientists study meteorological processes in greater depth as modern technology improves. Instead of allowing Nature to dictate the weather, projects are in place to make the sky rain, remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and prevent extreme weather events such as hurricanes and flooding.

The ability to control the weather is helpful in many situations but can also be life-threatening. Geoengineering has as its primary objective the preservation of our planet. Although some scientists believe that humans should not mess around with the environment, Nature reports. The outcome may look good on paper, but what about the unintended consequences we don't yet know about? As a result of our involvement in climate change, many people believe we should work toward naturally reversing our past behavior. It's important to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and protect the environment by planting more trees.

The origins of cloud seeding

Using cloud seeding, rain can be made to fall from the sky. Silver or lead iodide particles are discharged into the atmosphere using aircraft, drones, or rockets. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, the water droplets in the cloud, which are too small to fall as rain, surround the silver iodide. Ice crystals form as the water and silver iodide mix. The ice crystals gain weight as time passes and sink to the ground. Raindrops form when they fall and melt.

The weather was manipulated when the U.S. Army conducted cloud seeding in 1974 during the Vietnam War. The goal was to extend the monsoon season in Vietnam, making it more difficult for the enemy to conduct operations. U.S. troops were better prepared for a long wet season thanks to Operation Popeye, according to papers disclosed online by the Office of the Historian. Storms like Operation Popeye exploited the rain to devastate highways and cause flooding.

Military pilots flew over certain localities using silver or lead iodide canisters to do this. When the canisters were lit, the particles were dispersed into the atmosphere. Military weather-control tactics were banned under the European Modification Convention when Operation Popeye came to light.

According to reports by BBC, Chinese weather engineers reportedly altered forecasts for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. It was hoped that the rain would fall before events such as the opening ceremony rather than during them.

Cloud-whitening towers as a marine geoengineering technique

Its particles' size and content determine a cloud's color. As well as looking good, white clouds can be advantageous since they reflect sunlight into space, together with the heat energy that it possesses. By brightening clouds to prevent global warming, cloud-whitening towers have been proposed, as reported by the BBC.

A fleet of self-driving autonomous boats would be used to build the towers. Using these towers, water would be pumped up from the ocean and released into the atmosphere as a mist. This small seawater spray would decrease the average droplet size in the surrounding clouds. Light is scattered by tiny droplets in clouds, making clouds seem white and allowing more sunlight to be reflected away from the planet by these white clouds.

Second, iceberg-building

The melting of the Arctic ice is frequently linked to the effects of climate change. Even if we can't utilize machines to reassemble the Arctic, we can take numerous other measures to help slow global warming. As part of the ASA Experimental Design Competition, an Indonesian team led by architect Faris Rajak Kotahatuhaha created an iceberg-creating submarine.

To fill the hexagonal center of these containers, they must first be submerged underwater. After that, the salt is removed from the water using a filtration process. Removing the salt from seawater lowers its freezing point, making this procedure vital. The water is hidden from the Sun, allowing it to freeze naturally.

Around one month later, the ice would be released from the ship in the form of a 16 feet wide, 25 feet deep hexagonal piece of frozen water. This particular form was designed to maximize the likelihood of two ice chunks fusing.

Fertilization of sea life

To put it another way, ocean fertilization brings atmospheric carbon dioxide to the ocean's depths. Marine phytoplankton plays an essential role in ocean fertilization even though humans are capable of initiating the process. Several studies have been carried out on this proposal. However, some scientists are concerned about its ability to alter ocean environments at various depths drastically.

There are two methods for discharging iron into the ocean. Phytoplankton, the microscopic sea algae, require iron to thrive and make food; hence adding iron causes algal blooms.

Carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is taken up, and oxygen is released by phytoplankton. In the end, phytoplankton dies, and the carbon it has ingested sinks back to the ocean floor. More than a century after it is deposited in the ocean; carbon can still be found.

Four. An artificial rise in sea level

Using massive artificial tubes, deep ocean water is pumped up to shallower depths, which can be used for various purposes. According to the Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, this process disperses cooler, nutrient-rich water near the surface. While upwelling has been known to lower the temperature of the atmosphere, in some cases, it has increased the temperature of the atmosphere.

Upwelling systems would have to be on indefinitely even if the weather was temporarily altered in this way. Instead of being trapped and cooled, the absorbed heat would be expelled, and the process would be reversed.

A form of planetary geoengineering

It is geoengineering's goal to modify the climate of the planet. There are, however, some that aren't meant to work on our globe. Space geoengineering aims to remove as much distance from Earth as possible to make more dramatic adjustments. So much of the geoengineering technology envisioned for Earth's orbit is based on altering the sunlight that shines on our planet when we orbit around the Sun.

Engineering student James Early was the first to develop the concept in 1989. According to the British Interplanetary Society, his design called for erecting a 1,242-mile (2,000 km)-wide glass sheet. It would act as a solar shield in Earth's orbit, reflecting sunlight into space and lowering the amount of radiation reaching the planet's atmosphere. Launching such a large, heavy structure into orbit would be prohibitive, and it would almost certainly have to be put together in microgravity. According to the Chinese Journal of Aeronautics, space assembly technology is being tested.

Smaller mirror satellites and dense asteroid dust could be used as a solar shield by sure scientists, according to Space.com.

Equipment must be kept in a controlled area to keep light from reaching the Earth. L1 Lagrange is the most generally proposed location for such a system. According to NASA, the Sun's and Earth's gravity are equal. Thus a satellite needs just a tiny amount of energy to stay in place.

We know where we're going and have several ideas in the works. What's holding up the implementation of these ideas? However, it is also the aspect that has the potential to make space geoengineering so successful – the scale. Changing the weather from space has the advantage of affecting the entire planet rather than just a tiny portion, as is possible when modifying the weather on Earth.

It's impossible to test these large-scale alterations until the mission is launched. And it's impossible to predict how the planet might react to a sudden cooling and loss of light.

Additional reading and resources

For more information on the Oxford Geoengineering Program, see their website. To learn more about geoengineering in space, NASA has provided answers to five frequently asked questions.

 Why Is The Planet A Mess And What's The Solution?

Reference : https://www.livescience.com/geoengineering-the-weather 

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