Potential ecological impacts of climate intervention by reflecting sunlight to cool Earth

Phoebe L Zarnetske; Jessica Gurevitch; Janet Franklin; Peter M Groffman; Cheryl S Harrison; Jessica J Hellmann; Forrest M Hoffman; Shan Kothari; Alan Robock; Simone Tilmes; Daniele Visioni; Jin Wu; Lili Xia; Cheng-En Yang

doi:10.1073/pnas.1921854118

Potential ecological impacts of climate intervention by reflecting sunlight to cool Earth

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 Apr 13;118(15):e1921854118. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1921854118.

Authors

Phoebe L Zarnetske^{1

2}, Jessica Gurevitch³, Janet Franklin⁴, Peter M Groffman^{5

6}, Cheryl S Harrison⁷, Jessica J Hellmann^{8

9}, Forrest M Hoffman^{10

11}, Shan Kothari^{12

13}, Alan Robock¹⁴, Simone Tilmes¹⁵, Daniele Visioni¹⁶, Jin Wu¹⁷, Lili Xia¹⁴, Cheng-En Yang¹¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Integrative Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824.
² Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior Program, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824.
³ Department of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-5245.
⁴ Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521; jfrankl@ucr.edu.
⁵ Advanced Science Research Center at the Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY 10031.
⁶ Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, NY 12545.
⁷ School of Earth Environmental and Marine Science, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, TX 78539.
⁸ Institute on the Environment, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108.
⁹ Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108.
¹⁰ Computational Earth Sciences Group, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831.
¹¹ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996.
¹² Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108.
¹³ Institut de Recherche en Biologie Végétale, Département de Sciences Biologiques, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada H1X 2B2.
¹⁴ Department of Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8551.
¹⁵ Atmospheric Chemistry, Observations, and Modeling Laboratory, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO 80301.
¹⁶ Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14850.
¹⁷ Division of Ecology and Biodiversity, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.

Abstract

As the effects of anthropogenic climate change become more severe, several approaches for deliberate climate intervention to reduce or stabilize Earth's surface temperature have been proposed. Solar radiation modification (SRM) is one potential approach to partially counteract anthropogenic warming by reflecting a small proportion of the incoming solar radiation to increase Earth's albedo. While climate science research has focused on the predicted climate effects of SRM, almost no studies have investigated the impacts that SRM would have on ecological systems. The impacts and risks posed by SRM would vary by implementation scenario, anthropogenic climate effects, geographic region, and by ecosystem, community, population, and organism. Complex interactions among Earth's climate system and living systems would further affect SRM impacts and risks. We focus here on stratospheric aerosol intervention (SAI), a well-studied and relatively feasible SRM scheme that is likely to have a large impact on Earth's surface temperature. We outline current gaps in knowledge about both helpful and harmful predicted effects of SAI on ecological systems. Desired ecological outcomes might also inform development of future SAI implementation scenarios. In addition to filling these knowledge gaps, increased collaboration between ecologists and climate scientists would identify a common set of SAI research goals and improve the communication about potential SAI impacts and risks with the public. Without this collaboration, forecasts of SAI impacts will overlook potential effects on biodiversity and ecosystem services for humanity.

Keywords: anthropogenic climate change; biodiversity; ecosystem; solar radiation modification; stratospheric aerosol intervention.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't