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Originally published in Science Express on 14 September 2006
Science 20 October 2006:
Vol. 314. no. 5798, pp. 452 - 454
DOI: 10.1126/science.1131728
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Reports

A Combined Mitigation/Geoengineering Approach to Climate Stabilization

T. M. L. Wigley

Projected anthropogenic warming and increases in CO2 concentration present a twofold threat, both from climate changes and from CO2 directly through increasing the acidity of the oceans. Future climate change may be reduced through mitigation (reductions in greenhouse gas emissions) or through geoengineering. Most geoengineering approaches, however, do not address the problem of increasing ocean acidity. A combined mitigation/geoengineering strategy could remove this deficiency. Here we consider the deliberate injection of sulfate aerosol precursors into the stratosphere. This action could substantially offset future warming and provide additional time to reduce human dependence on fossil fuels and stabilize CO2 concentrations cost-effectively at an acceptable level.

National Center for Atmospheric Research, Post Office Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307–3000, USA.

E-mail: wigley{at}ucar.edu

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