Potential ecological impacts of climate intervention by reflecting sunlight to cool Earth

Phoebe L. Zarnetske; Jessica Gurevitch; Janet Franklin; Peter M. Groffman; Cheryl S. Harrison; Jessica J. Hellmann; Forrest M. Hoffman; Shan Kothari; Alan Robock; Simone Tilmes; Daniele Visioni; Jin Wu; Lili Xia; Cheng En Yang

doi:10.1073/pnas.1921854118

Potential ecological impacts of climate intervention by reflecting sunlight to cool Earth

Phoebe L. Zarnetske, Jessica Gurevitch, Janet Franklin, Peter M. Groffman, Cheryl S. Harrison, Jessica J. Hellmann, Forrest M. Hoffman, Shan Kothari, Alan Robock, Simone Tilmes, Daniele Visioni, Jin Wu, Lili Xia, Cheng En Yang

Computational Earth Sciences Group

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

53 Scopus citations

Abstract

As the effects of anthropogenic climate change become more severe, several approaches for deliberate climate intervention to reduce or stabilize Earth's surface temperature have been proposed. Solar radiation modification (SRM) is one potential approach to partially counteract anthropogenic warming by reflecting a small proportion of the incoming solar radiation to increase Earth's albedo. While climate science research has focused on the predicted climate effects of SRM, almost no studies have investigated the impacts that SRM would have on ecological systems. The impacts and risks posed by SRM would vary by implementation scenario, anthropogenic climate effects, geographic region, and by ecosystem, community, population, and organism. Complex interactions among Earth's climate system and living systems would further affect SRM impacts and risks. We focus here on stratospheric aerosol intervention (SAI), a well-studied and relatively feasible SRM scheme that is likely to have a large impact on Earth's surface temperature. We outline current gaps in knowledge about both helpful and harmful predicted effects of SAI on ecological systems. Desired ecological outcomes might also inform development of future SAI implementation scenarios. In addition to filling these knowledge gaps, increased collaboration between ecologists and climate scientists would identify a common set of SAI research goals and improve the communication about potential SAI impacts and risks with the public. Without this collaboration, forecasts of SAI impacts will overlook potential effects on biodiversity and ecosystem services for humanity.

Original language	English
Article number	e1921854118
Journal	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume	118
Issue number	15
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1921854118
State	Published - Apr 13 2021

Funding

We thank the Computational and Information Systems Laboratory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Michigan State University, and Stony Brook University for facilitating this research. This work was funded in part by National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Environmental Biology Grant 1937619 (to J.G.), NSF Division of Environmental Biology Grant 1937699 (to P.L.Z.), NSF Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences Grant 1617844 (to A.R.), NSF 1853697 (to J.F.); and US Department of Energy SC-23-RUBISCO Science Focus Area (to F.M.H. and C.-E.Y.) and Terrestrial Ecosystem Science Focus Area (to C.-E.Y.).

Funders	Funder number
Computational and Information Systems Laboratory
National Science Foundation	2017113
U.S. Department of Energy
Division of Environmental Biology	1937699, 1853697, 1937619, 1617844
National Center for Atmospheric Research
Michigan State University

Keywords

Anthropogenic climate change
Ecosystem biodiversity
Solar radiation modification
Stratospheric aerosol intervention

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1073/pnas.1921854118

Cite this

Zarnetske, P. L., Gurevitch, J., Franklin, J., Groffman, P. M., Harrison, C. S., Hellmann, J. J., Hoffman, F. M., Kothari, S., Robock, A., Tilmes, S., Visioni, D., Wu, J., Xia, L., & Yang, C. E. (2021). Potential ecological impacts of climate intervention by reflecting sunlight to cool Earth. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 118(15), Article e1921854118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1921854118

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abstract = "As the effects of anthropogenic climate change become more severe, several approaches for deliberate climate intervention to reduce or stabilize Earth's surface temperature have been proposed. Solar radiation modification (SRM) is one potential approach to partially counteract anthropogenic warming by reflecting a small proportion of the incoming solar radiation to increase Earth's albedo. While climate science research has focused on the predicted climate effects of SRM, almost no studies have investigated the impacts that SRM would have on ecological systems. The impacts and risks posed by SRM would vary by implementation scenario, anthropogenic climate effects, geographic region, and by ecosystem, community, population, and organism. Complex interactions among Earth's climate system and living systems would further affect SRM impacts and risks. We focus here on stratospheric aerosol intervention (SAI), a well-studied and relatively feasible SRM scheme that is likely to have a large impact on Earth's surface temperature. We outline current gaps in knowledge about both helpful and harmful predicted effects of SAI on ecological systems. Desired ecological outcomes might also inform development of future SAI implementation scenarios. In addition to filling these knowledge gaps, increased collaboration between ecologists and climate scientists would identify a common set of SAI research goals and improve the communication about potential SAI impacts and risks with the public. Without this collaboration, forecasts of SAI impacts will overlook potential effects on biodiversity and ecosystem services for humanity.",

keywords = "Anthropogenic climate change, Ecosystem biodiversity, Solar radiation modification, Stratospheric aerosol intervention",

author = "Zarnetske, {Phoebe L.} and Jessica Gurevitch and Janet Franklin and Groffman, {Peter M.} and Harrison, {Cheryl S.} and Hellmann, {Jessica J.} and Hoffman, {Forrest M.} and Shan Kothari and Alan Robock and Simone Tilmes and Daniele Visioni and Jin Wu and Lili Xia and Yang, {Cheng En}",

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Zarnetske, PL, Gurevitch, J, Franklin, J, Groffman, PM, Harrison, CS, Hellmann, JJ, Hoffman, FM, Kothari, S, Robock, A, Tilmes, S, Visioni, D, Wu, J, Xia, L & Yang, CE 2021, 'Potential ecological impacts of climate intervention by reflecting sunlight to cool Earth', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 118, no. 15, e1921854118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1921854118

TY - JOUR

T1 - Potential ecological impacts of climate intervention by reflecting sunlight to cool Earth

AU - Zarnetske, Phoebe L.

AU - Gurevitch, Jessica

AU - Franklin, Janet

AU - Groffman, Peter M.

AU - Harrison, Cheryl S.

AU - Hellmann, Jessica J.

AU - Hoffman, Forrest M.

AU - Kothari, Shan

AU - Robock, Alan

AU - Tilmes, Simone

AU - Visioni, Daniele

AU - Wu, Jin

AU - Xia, Lili

AU - Yang, Cheng En

PY - 2021/4/13

Y1 - 2021/4/13

N2 - As the effects of anthropogenic climate change become more severe, several approaches for deliberate climate intervention to reduce or stabilize Earth's surface temperature have been proposed. Solar radiation modification (SRM) is one potential approach to partially counteract anthropogenic warming by reflecting a small proportion of the incoming solar radiation to increase Earth's albedo. While climate science research has focused on the predicted climate effects of SRM, almost no studies have investigated the impacts that SRM would have on ecological systems. The impacts and risks posed by SRM would vary by implementation scenario, anthropogenic climate effects, geographic region, and by ecosystem, community, population, and organism. Complex interactions among Earth's climate system and living systems would further affect SRM impacts and risks. We focus here on stratospheric aerosol intervention (SAI), a well-studied and relatively feasible SRM scheme that is likely to have a large impact on Earth's surface temperature. We outline current gaps in knowledge about both helpful and harmful predicted effects of SAI on ecological systems. Desired ecological outcomes might also inform development of future SAI implementation scenarios. In addition to filling these knowledge gaps, increased collaboration between ecologists and climate scientists would identify a common set of SAI research goals and improve the communication about potential SAI impacts and risks with the public. Without this collaboration, forecasts of SAI impacts will overlook potential effects on biodiversity and ecosystem services for humanity.

AB - As the effects of anthropogenic climate change become more severe, several approaches for deliberate climate intervention to reduce or stabilize Earth's surface temperature have been proposed. Solar radiation modification (SRM) is one potential approach to partially counteract anthropogenic warming by reflecting a small proportion of the incoming solar radiation to increase Earth's albedo. While climate science research has focused on the predicted climate effects of SRM, almost no studies have investigated the impacts that SRM would have on ecological systems. The impacts and risks posed by SRM would vary by implementation scenario, anthropogenic climate effects, geographic region, and by ecosystem, community, population, and organism. Complex interactions among Earth's climate system and living systems would further affect SRM impacts and risks. We focus here on stratospheric aerosol intervention (SAI), a well-studied and relatively feasible SRM scheme that is likely to have a large impact on Earth's surface temperature. We outline current gaps in knowledge about both helpful and harmful predicted effects of SAI on ecological systems. Desired ecological outcomes might also inform development of future SAI implementation scenarios. In addition to filling these knowledge gaps, increased collaboration between ecologists and climate scientists would identify a common set of SAI research goals and improve the communication about potential SAI impacts and risks with the public. Without this collaboration, forecasts of SAI impacts will overlook potential effects on biodiversity and ecosystem services for humanity.

KW - Anthropogenic climate change

KW - Ecosystem biodiversity

KW - Solar radiation modification

KW - Stratospheric aerosol intervention

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U2 - 10.1073/pnas.1921854118

DO - 10.1073/pnas.1921854118

M3 - Review article

C2 - 33876741

AN - SCOPUS:85104248690

SN - 0027-8424

VL - 118

JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

IS - 15

M1 - e1921854118

ER -

Potential ecological impacts of climate intervention by reflecting sunlight to cool Earth

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

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