Environment Life

Aerosol injection could cool planet using aeroplanes

Admin

April 30, 2025
3 min read

Aerosol injection could cool planet using aeroplanes

A new study from University College London (UCL) suggests that stratospheric aerosol injection, a geoengineering technique aimed at cooling the planet, could be implemented using existing aircraft, such as the Boeing 777F, rather than developing specialized high-altitude planes.

Traditionally, stratospheric aerosol injection was thought to require aircraft capable of reaching altitudes of 20km to disperse sulphur dioxide particles effectively. However, UCL researchers found that injecting these particles at 13km over polar regions could still achieve meaningful cooling, albeit less efficiently.

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Lead author Alistair Duffey, a PhD student at UCL’s Department of Earth Sciences, stated, that “solar geoengineering comes with serious risks and much more research is needed to understand its impacts. However, our study suggests that it is easier to cool the planet with this particular intervention than we thought. This has implications for how quickly stratospheric aerosol injection could be started and by who.”

The study utilized the UK’s Earth System Model to simulate various aerosol injection scenarios. Results indicated that releasing 12 million tonnes of sulphur dioxide annually at 13km altitude during local spring and summer could cool the planet by approximately 0.6°C.

While this approach is less effective, about one-third as efficient as high-altitude injections, it offers a more immediate solution using current aviation technology. However, increased sulphur dioxide usage could lead to side effects like acid rain and would be less effective in cooling tropical regions, which are more vulnerable to warming.

Co-author Wake Smith from Yale University noted that modifying existing aircraft would be quicker and less costly than developing new high-altitude planes, potentially accelerating the deployment of this geoengineering method.

Despite its potential, the researchers emphasize that stratospheric aerosol injection is not a substitute for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Co-author Dr. Matthew Henry from the University of Exeter remarked, “stratospheric aerosol injection is certainly not a replacement for greenhouse gas emission reductions as any potential negative side effects increase with the amount of cooling: we can only achieve long-term climate stability with net zero.”

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