High-latitude stratospheric aerosol geoengineering can be more effective
if injection is limited to spring
Abstract
Stratospheric aerosol geoengineering focused on the Arctic could
substantially reduce local and worldwide impacts of anthropogenic global
warming. Because the Arctic receives little sunlight during the winter,
stratospheric aerosols present in the winter at high latitudes have
little impact on the climate, whereas stratospheric aerosols present
during the summer achieve larger changes in radiative forcing. Injecting
SO2 in the spring leads to peak aerosol optical depth (AOD) in the
summer. We demonstrate that spring injection produces approximately
twice as much summer AOD as year-round injection and restores
approximately twice as much September sea ice, resulting in less
increase in stratospheric sulfur burden, stratospheric heating, and
stratospheric ozone depletion per unit of sea ice restored. We also find
that differences in AOD between different seasonal injection strategies
are small compared to the difference between annual and spring
injection.