http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/acp-2016-830/
Glacier evolution in high mountain Asia under stratospheric sulfate aerosol injection geoengineering Abstract. Geoengineering by stratospheric sulfate aerosol injection may help preserve mountain glaciers by reducing summer temperatures. We examine this hypothesis for the glaciers in High Mountain Asia using a glacier mass balance model driven by climate simulations from the Geoengineering Model Intercomparison Project (GeoMIP). The G3 and G4 schemes specify use of stratospheric sulphate aerosols to reduce the radiative forcing under the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 4.5 scenario for the 50 years between 2020 and 2069, and for a further 20 years after termination of geoengineering. We estimate and compare glaciers volume loss for every glacier in the region using a model based on glacier surface mass balance parameterization under climate projections from 3 Earth System Models under G3, 5 under G4 and 6 under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. G3 keeps the summer mean temperature from increasing in the geoengineering period, but termination of geoengineering leads to sudden temperature rise of about 1.7 ºC and corresponding increase in glacier retreat. Glacier volume in inner Tibet and eastern Himalaya is least affected by greenhouse gas forcing, and also benefits the most from geoengineering. The ensemble mean projections suggest that glacier shrinkage over the period 2010–2069 are equivalent to sea-level rises of 8.4 mm (G3), 10.7 mm (G4), 14.7 mm (RCP 4.5) and 16.8 mm (RCP8.5). After the termination of geoengineering, annual mean volume loss rate for all the glaciers under G3 increases from 0.39 % a−1 to 0.90 % a−1, which are higher than the 0.70 % a−1 under RCP8.5 at that time. While sulphate 30 aerosol injection geoengineering may slow glacier loss in the region, it cannot prevent about a third of existing glacier coverage disappearing by 2069. Citation: Zhao, L., Yang, Y., Ji, D., and Moore, J. C.: Glacier evolution in high mountain Asia under stratospheric sulfate aerosol injection geoengineering, Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., doi:10.5194/acp-2016-830, in review, 2016. -- 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 geoengineering+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to geoengineering@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
