My contribution: the definition of goals in relevant areas of scientific research;
Scientific research should be focused on real-world experiments aimed at understanding the full lifecycle of aerosols in the stratosphere, in response to deliberate perturbation. Understanding how various types of of aerosols can be created through either fast-direct or slow-condensing injection is the first step, then understanding how subsequent aerosol growth occurs (condensation onto existing particles). Both of these require understanding of plume spreading in the stratosphere, to ensure materials can be effectively distributed. Finally, understanding the fate of aerosols as they rain out through clouds - and the subsequent climate impacts - is critical to understanding the full climate effect of the aerosol life cycle. In parallel, it is essential to embrace engineering goals, as well as scientific ones. No flight hardware is currently under detailed design which is capable of of distributing materials at scale. Nor is there any dual-purpose aircraft development occurring - specifically a replacement & enhancement for ageing or retired High-Altitude tanker fleet (KC-135). Such aircraft are required for delivery, and planned/current lower altitude tankers are unsuitable. The scientific problems should be solved in parallel with the engineering ones, to ensure readiness. capabilities required to model, analyze, observe, and monitor atmospheric composition; The overwhelming need in the field is full flight hardware capable of monitoring small scale interventions in the stratosphere. High-Altitude observation aircraft (U2, SR71) are no longer manufactured. There is a very small fleet of these suitable high altitude aircraft available for scientific use. Investment in pseudo satellites (high altitude airships) is insufficient to make the necessary aircraft available in time for necessary scientific research. In addition, investment in volcanic observation infrastructure is critical. Satellite, terrestrial, and airborne equipment will be required to observe any new large volcanic eruptions. This research community must be consulted in parallel. Modelling has been done well, by comparison with the almost non-existent real world work. However, there are still too few modelling projects, especially on regional downscaling work, and complex process studies (aerosol-cloud; regional MCB interventions; etc.). Investment needs to be increased overall - but must be accompanied by a reduction in gatekeeping, to allow the developing world to build up research capacity through shared compute resources. climate impacts and the Earth's radiation budget; and Much of this work is indistinguishable from general climate research. Blind spots particularly exist in the mechanism and measurement of clouds and ice sheets - which are relatively poorly understood. Both clouds and ice can be subject to direct geoengineering interventions, so it is necessary to invest in fundamental scientific climate process research, real-time environmental monitoring - and simultaneously to research potential geoengineering interventions. Marine cloud brightening and glacier geoengineering require heavy investment, to create complex hardware and programs capable of operating in remote or hostile environments; no present large scale funding for these projects is known. the coordination of Federal research and investments to deliver this assessment to manage near-term climate risk and research in climate intervention. The biggest current constraint is the lack of clear public sector support for real world scientific experiments. Private funding exists for small scale experiments - but these have not yet been conducted, due to a lack of regulatory and political support. Later, much larger programmes of research will require direct funding - but this is not at present the immediate barrier to progress. Organisational support and momentum from the public sector is a precursor to much-needed large scale spending, but it is also holding up private research. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/geoengineering/CAJ3C-07V%3DX6ETSPy6wjV-cEagy9-pRpG%2BPVua%3DeQyJtjZkDcCA%40mail.gmail.com.
