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Targeted marine cloud brightening can dampen El Ni\~no
- Publication Year :
- 2024
-
Abstract
- Many record-breaking climate extremes arise from both greenhouse gas-induced warming and natural climate variability. Marine cloud brightening, a solar geoengineering strategy originally proposed to reduce long-term warming, could potentially mitigate extreme events by instead targeting seasonal phenomena, such as El Ni\~no-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). By exploiting the 2019-2020 Australian wildfire experiment-of-opportunity, we show that simulated marine cloud brightening in the southeast Pacific reproduces observed cloud changes and induces La Ni\~na-like responses. We then explore how cloud brightening timing and duration modifies the 1997-1998 and 2015-2016 El Ni\~no events. We find the earliest and longest interventions effectively restore neutral ENSO conditions and dampen El Ni\~no's impacts. Solar geoengineering that targets climate variability could complement tools such as ENSO forecasting and provide a pathway for climate risk mitigation.
- Subjects :
- Physics - Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
Subjects
Details
- Database :
- arXiv
- Publication Type :
- Report
- Accession number :
- edsarx.2406.07853
- Document Type :
- Working Paper