The problem of global warming is one issue that has taken the centre stage of global attention lately. From melting glaciers, abnormal climatic seasons, unusual snowfall, steady disappearance of some species of animals and plants, emergence of strange diseases to ever rising temperatures; no year passes without a record of one or more major unusual natural incidents. Judging from this, one would not be wrong to say the world is headed for imminent catastrophe if nothing is done to reverse this trend. It is already 20 years since world leaders first sat on a round table and discuss this thorny issue of [global warming](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming) with a view to articulating a global solution front. 

![images1.jpeg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmURFDLxypkFhSASA6yVoekT3c7x6jsaM3Vy77P6nu8Gmh/images1.jpeg)
<sub>[Source: [Flickr commons](https://www.flickr.com/photos/explainthatstuff/4866535480). Author: Explain That Stuff. [CC BY-NC-SA 2.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/) licensed]</sub>            

Of course, some progress have been made in solving the problem in terms of developing various alternative energy technologies and recycling some important products. However, these solutions do not adequately tame the menace of the rapidly changing climate, leaving man ever vulnerable to future climatic cataclysm. In order to arrest the situation and prevent possible planetary disaster in the future, scientists from all works of life are calling for a more radical approach, and thus came the idea of ***"Geoengineering — the large scale, intentional manipulation of the climate to ameliorate the unfavorable effects of global warming***<sup>[ref](https://www.popsci.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-geoengineering)</sup>. In this article, therefore, we are going to explore Geoengineering to the fullest to be able to appreciate its meaning, and then we will examine one of its two techniques in this Part 1; the second technique will be covered in Part 2 of this article. 

### <center>**What is Geoengineering?**</center>

Also referred to as "**climate engineering or climate intervention"**, Geoengineering is broadly defined as...:

>...the deliberate and large-scale intervention in the Earth’s climate system, usually with the aim of mitigating the adverse effects of global warming || <sub>[Source](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_engineering)</sub> 

The reality of changing climate is no longer a subject of debates and doubts; it is real and ever glaring. The Earth's surface air temperature has been reported to have increased by about 1°C (1.4°F) within the last century, and the same source also estimates temperature to rise by another 1.4–5.8°C (2.5–10.4°F) by 2100<sup>[ref](https://www.explainthatstuff.com/geoengineering.html)</sup>. Solutions must be articulated against this steady rise in temperature if life must continue on Earth. Mind you, scientific interests to bring menace of global warming under control was never motivated by the adverse effects it would have on earth; no. Earth is under no threat by global warming and will continue to exist no matter what we do to it. 

![6132018221950.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmR9wnL6udmAgT1qytk4pRR6WSvJQBvTKguMy5HTZSqZh5/6132018221950.jpg)
<sub>[*Temperature map of regions where record highs and lows were set in 2015*. Source: [wikimedia commons](https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2015_Annual_Temperature_Local_Records.jpg#mw-jump-to-license). Author: Berkeley Earth. [Public domain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:public_domain) licensed]</sub>

The concerns of scientists are for us humans and millions of other lower lives, because there is a threshold of climatic imbalance beyond which it is practically impossible for life to continue to thrive on Earth. It is the concern of science that we don't get to such extremes. Thus brings about the idea of **Geoengineering**, which is the most fashionable term used to describe large-scale planetary interventions intended to slow down or reverse the effect of climate change. 

### <center>**The mechanisms of Geoengineering**</center>

Ideally, greenhouse effect is responsible for climate change. By definition, greenhouse effect is a build up of water vapour and such other gases as carbon dioxide, methane, etc in the atmosphere where they trapped solar radiation, with resultant increased temperatures on Earth. 

>The greenhouse gases that our cars and power plants belch out are really good at trapping heat. As sunlight heats the planet, this blanket of CO2, methane, and other heat-trapping gasses prevents Earth from shedding some of this warmth into space. As a result, the global thermostat is rising. | <sub>[Source](https://www.popsci.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-geoengineering)</sub>   

There are [two ways](http://www.geoengineering.ox.ac.uk/what-is-geoengineering/what-is-geoengineering/) by which Geoengineering tries to scale down this *global fever*. **One approach** seeks to cool the Earth by reducing the amount of incoming solar radiation reaching it. **The second approach** involves actually removing some atmospheric carbon dioxide and locking it away where it is safe and cannot cause problems. With that being said, let us consider each of these approaches separately. 

### <center>**Solar radiation management (SRM) or solar engineering**</center>

Basically, the chief aim of SRM is to reflect a small proportion of solar energy back into space and thus prevents it from ever reaching the Earth's surface. This would, of course, counteract the temperature rise which was brought about by increased presence of  greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The techniques that have been proposed for this are as described below:

![6132018223426.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmVHS3jahKijbGJjw6CHCXjJiy2BF22Er1xWRpWLpe1q5q/6132018223426.jpg)
<sub>[*Spice SRM overview*. Source: [Wikimedia commons](https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SPICE_SRM_overview.jpg). Author: Hughhunt. [CC BY-SA 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en) licensed]</sub>

#### **Sulphur suncreen technique**

It has been [established](https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/vhp/gas_climate.html) that large-scale volcanic eruptions in the capacity of those from Mount St Helens in 1980 and Mount Pinatubo in 1991 can have significant cooling effect on the overall Earth temperature. During volcanic eruptions, Sulphur dioxide gas is fired high into the atmosphere where it reacts with water vapour to produce droplets of sulphuric acid which Interacts with sunlights, scattering a greater proportion of sun rays back into space. 

Motivated by this, Sulphur sunscreen technique is an attempt to tackle climate change by pumping Sulphur dioxide gas into the atmosphere where it is expected to react with water vapour to give sulphuric acid which then forms a protective shield that scatters sunlights back into space. However, Ken Caldeira from Stanford University, California has expressed concern that as effective as this approach could be, it can cause massive air pollution and accelerate ozone layer depletion; the problems of which could turn out as bad as climate change it is trying to proffer solution to. 

#### **Mirrors in space technique or space reflectors**

This technique aims to circumvent the problems of introducing Sulphur dioxide gas into the atmosphere by having a giant reflective metal sun-bloc structure constructed further out in space to obstruct some proportion of sunlights from reaching the Earth's surface. This sounds practically interesting but when you consider challenges space scientists had to overcome before they could construct the International Space Station (ISS), the prospect of embarking on a bigger project like this may seem forlorn.

#### **Cloud seeding technique or albedo enhancement**

This is technique aims to increase Earth's cloud cover since clouds are known to possess the ability to naturally reflect sunlight back into space. One method that has been proposed for this, is the one by Stephen Salter and John Latham <sup>[ref](https://www.explainthatstuff.com/geoengineering.html)</sup>. In this method, water would be piped up from oceans and sprayed into the atmosphere by about 1500 remote-controlled boats. Although this method would be cost effective to set up since it is Earth-based, uncertainty lies in the fact that no one knows if the extra cloud would trigger massive downpour that could lead to disastrous flooding. 

![613201822461.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmb4jBDyymiWfzBCVHVXUPqNjpB3ntwh7RtSjKWJJ3JCc6/613201822461.jpg)
<sub>[*Eastern Pacific Emitted Aerosol Cloud Experiment (E-PEACE)*. Source: [Flickr commons](https://www.flickr.com/photos/rezn8d/8538117935). Author: Jim Lee. [Public domain](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/) licensed]</sub>

It can be seen from the discourse so far that almost all the solar radiation management (SRM) techniques considered in this article has one or more issues that have to be perfected before they could be safely adopted. Hence, more research is needed in this regard. There is no hope lost yet as scientists are not resting in their bid to come up with a more acceptable solution with zero negative side effects resulting from their adoption. This brings us to the end of this Part 1. Stay tuned for Part 2 in which we hope to take you through the various techniques that aim to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Calling it a day here, thank you. 

### **References**
* <sub>[**Climate engineering**](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_engineering)</sub>
* <sub>[**What's Geoengineering?**](http://www.geoengineering.ox.ac.uk/what-is-geoengineering/what-is-geoengineering/)</sub> 
* <sub>[**Everything you need to know about Geoengineering**](https://www.popsci.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-geoengineering)</sub> 
* <sub>[**Geoengineering**](https://www.explainthatstuff.com/geoengineering.html)</sub> 
* <sub>[**Global warming**](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming)</sub> 
* <sub>[**Volcanoes can affect Earth's climate**](https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/vhp/gas_climate.html)</sub>

Simply Yours, 
@sciencetech 
STEM contributor.