Geoengineering could protect Amazon rainforest from climate change

[OKIsItJustMe]

https://news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-environment-science-and-economy/geoengineering-could-protect-amazon-rainforest-from-climate-change/

Alex Morrison

Geoengineering could protect the Amazon rainforest from climate change, new research shows.

Stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) aims to artificially cool the Earth by increasing the reflection of incoming solar radiation, thereby offsetting warming caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gases. SAI is designed to mimic explosive volcanic eruptions by injecting aerosols into the stratosphere.

Concerns have been raised that SAI could suppress vegetation productivity by reducing sunlight and rainfall. However, the new study – by the University of Exeter – shows that state-of-the-art climate models actually project an increase in global land carbon storage under SAI compared to both high and mid-range CO₂ scenarios.

The effects of SAI are especially clear in Amazonia, where land carbon storage increases by 10.8% compared to a high CO₂ scenario. This is mainly because SAI reduces the warming that suppresses forest and soil carbon growth in this high CO₂ scenario.

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Parry, I. M., Ritchie, P. D. L., Boucher, O., Cox, P. M., Haywood, J. M., Niemeier, U., Séférian, R., Tilmes, S., and Visioni, D.: Stratospheric aerosol injection geoengineering has the potential to increase land carbon storage and to protect the Amazon rainforest, Earth Syst. Dynam., 17, 387–414, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-17-387-2026, 2026.

[OC375]

1. Sounds like a disaster movie that ends poorly for humans.