Seeding the atmosphere with particulates to reduce global warming could backfire

Here’s why.

It could damage the ozone layer.

The idea of artificially-induced “global cooling” has been derived from the natural global cooling of volcanic eruptions, where sulfur and sulfur compound particles do the cooling effect. Here in specific is how it could backfire:

Researchers studied what would happen if regular, large amounts of sulfate particles were artificially injected into the atmosphere with the aim of cooling the surface temperatures.

The team found that over the next few decades, such large amounts of sulfates would likely destroy between about 25 to 75 percent of the ozone layer above the Arctic.

This could have a devastating effect on the northern hemisphere, computer simulations showed. The expected recovery of the hole over the Antarctic would also be delayed by 30 to 70 years.

Researchers found that such large amounts of sulfates would enable chlorine gases found in the cold layers of the stratosphere above the two Poles to become active, triggering a chemical reaction harmful to ozone.

“This study highlights another connection between global warming and ozone depletion,” said co-author Ross Salawitch of the University of Maryland. “These traditionally had been thought of as separate problems but are now increasingly recognized to be coupled in subtle, yet profoundly important, manners.”

So, scratch one idea of “salvific technologism.”