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Purposeful Volcanic Eruptions to Control Climate 5

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IRstuff

IRstuff

Aerospace
Jun 3, 2002
44,690
Here's one possibility for controlling temperature rise:
Volcanic eruptions appear to be a significant downward temperature forcing mechanism through the expelled gases and soot blocking and absorbing sunlight. One could imagine intentionally setting off a volcanic eruption to cool the Earth.

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ok, so we're unintentionally messing with the environment. Now you suggest that we know enough to intentionally mess with the environment.

sounds like hubris to me ...

another day in paradise, or is paradise one day closer ?
 
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Isn't the whole thing hubris anyway, really? Whatever side of the debate you fall on, it's hardly a secret that we're talking about a vastly complex system that we don't fully understand.
The article reads like it's been vastly simplified, honestly. While interesting, and possibly a research avenue, I can't help thinking that deliberately setting off volcanoes - or simulating doing so - is going to have a lot of other far-reaching impacts. Think of it more as another piece in the puzzle, rather than hubris or "playing God".
 
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They always used to talk about a Nuclear winter that would occur if we ever got into a significant nuclear war.... By your argument, wouldn't it be easier just to set off a bunch of nukes in relatively uninhabited areas and expect that to cool the earth for us?

For what it's worth I partly agree with Mongrel. There is definitely some hubris in our thinking if we claim that we truly understand this complex system that is our climate.

That being said, I don't believe it takes much hubris to suggest that we understand one small aspect of that system enough to feel confident that we should be concerned about what is likely to happen in the next century or so if we continue on our current pace.
 
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Just about every mass extinction event in the earths history has been caused by extreme volcanic events. Even some less extreme ones have led to mass starvation and death in the worlds animal and plant populations including humans.

Of course we are brilliant enough to ensure that nothing like this could be caused by human generated volcanic activity. We can always turn off the switch if it starts going too far!

If we wait a while Gaia will do the volcanic solution for us based on history.
 
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I considered nuclear winter, which is actually where the thought started. However, nuclear winter comes with nuclear fallout; there's not much point in bringing the temperature back down but not surviving the fallout.

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I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert! faq731-376 forum1529 Entire Forum list
 
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Not to worry, all the models show it will work :)

The problem with sloppy work is that the supply FAR EXCEEDS the demand
 
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Where I live, an hours drive from a super volcano, there is a 200 ft thick rock layer that was volcanic ash, so I am included to ask how does one intend to turn it off once it starts, because overshooting the cooling target by couple of degrees could make global warming look pleasant.
 
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verymadmac, exactly! Because as we all know, meddling with the natural order of things has always had such positive results. Not.

It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.
 
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It's supposed to be a last resort scheme; there's certainly a lot of downsides and potential unintended consequences, so it would only be considered if there is an existential threat to life on Earth. One obvious issue would be just simply the magnitude of the volcanic winter; what if it drives the temperature into the regime of the polar vortex we just had, but spread out across the globe?

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I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert! faq731-376 forum1529 Entire Forum list
 
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IRstuff said:
what if it drives the temperature into the regime of the polar vortex we just had, but spread out across the globe?
Click to expand...

Then the neanderthals among us will survive and overpopulation will likely cease to be a concern for some time.

Andrew H.
 
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Build a solar shield. It isn't permanent and well within our means. It would cost in the 5-10 billion dollar range the last I read.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself.
 
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I think that was trillion, not billion which is still not necessarily outrageous. That particular approach would have required a total of 20 million rocket launches over 10 years, however, which is well beyond the industry's capacity.

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I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert! faq731-376 forum1529 Entire Forum list
 
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To fund it you could always get it to convert the solar radiation intercepted to solar power to solve the earths energy needs.

Then you have to get it back to earth. Energy beam anyone. Then you lose control of it and cook everyone and everything!
 
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20 million rocket launches would put a fair amount of nastiness into the atmosphere, most likely for a not-good effect.

It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.
 
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