HAMBURG, GERMANY / ZURICH, SWITZERLAND — As temperatures on Earth reach unprecedented highs, extreme, potentially disastrous weather will be more likely. Scientists say there may be ways to intervene, but warn that they come with risky consequences. <br /> <br />Business Insider reports that two recently published papers in the journal Science are investigating strategies for geoengineering, which is the artificial modification of environmental processes or climate systems, as a way of combating climate change. <br /> <br />One such strategy is mimicking the effects of a volcanic eruption. <br /> <br />Erupting volcanoes spew out large amounts of sulfur-rich gases, which help cool the Earth by reflecting solar radiation back into space. <br /> <br />The same effect can be recreated using planes that would inject sulfur into the atmosphere. But to cool the planet by 1 degree Celsius, 6,700 injections are needed eventually, which will cost $20 billion annually. <br /> <br />This approach also risks destroying the ozone layer and reducing rainfall, enough to potentially cause droughts in certain regions. <br /> <br />A similarly drastic approach to cooling Earth can be achieved by thinning heat-trapping cirrus clouds. Seeding causes the clouds to break apart and lets more heat escape. <br /> <br />The seeding process, however, must be precise, otherwise new cirrus clouds may form elsewhere and add to the warming effect. <br /> <br />But while sulfur injections and cirrus cloud seedings will cool the land, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere remain the same, and ocean acidification continues. <br /> <br />As such, researchers argue the two strategies should be deployed more as a last resort, adding that reducing carbon emissions are much more effective at curing climate change.
