http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/grl.50122/abstract

Keywords:

climate;geoengineering;aerosols;cirrus

Abstract

[1] Cirrus clouds, thin ice clouds in the upper troposphere, have a net
warming effect on Earth's climate. Consequently, a reduction in cirrus
cloud amount or optical thickness would cool the climate. Recent research
indicates that by seeding cirrus clouds with particles that promote ice
nucleation, their lifetimes and coverage could be reduced. We have tested
this hypothesis in a global climate model with a state-of-the-art
representation of cirrus clouds, and find that cirrus cloud seeding has
thepotential to cancel the entire warming caused by human activity from
pre-industrial times to present day. However, the desired effect is only
obtained for seeding particle concentrations that lie within an optimal
range. With lower than optimal particle concentrations a seeding exercise
would have no effect. Moreover, a higher than optimal concentration results
in an over-seeding that could have the deleterious effect of prolonging
cirrus lifetime and contributing to global warming.

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