WHAT IS SOLAR RADIATION MANAGEMENT & WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
By Rosalind Peterson
May 18, 2011
Geoengineering is defined as “planetary-scale environmental engineering of our atmosphere, our weather, the oceans, and the Earth itself.” The methods, or schemes, that may be used now without public oversight or debate, prior public notification, U.S. Congress or State oversight, are staggering in number and scope.
SOLAR RADIATION MANAGEMENT involves intentionally introduced atmospheric schemes that would add particles, chemicals, or gases to our upper atmosphere to reduce the amount of direct sunlight reaching the Earth. These schemes also include cloud whitening experiments (using salt particles), and putting more water vapor (a greenhouse gas), into the atmosphere to create more artificial cloud cover.
One of the current experiments that has been ongoing since the late 1980s, is the use of large jets to introduce more water vapor into our atmosphere on an ever-increasing scale. One of the byproducts of jet engine combustion is water vapor. And this program is backfiring because studies show that aviation (both military and commercial), is exacerbating the melting of glaciers in both Alaska and the Arctic and causing other pollution problems.
NASA research studies show that increasingly persistent jet contrails may turn into “man-made clouds” (or white haze), and are “…trapping warmth in the atmosphere and exacerbating global warming…Any change in global cloud cover may contribute to long-term changes in the Earth’s climate…” No current U.S. legislation addresses water vapor and aviation impacts on the global atmosphere. In addition, climate scientists are working to add more pollutants to the atmosphere in order to reduce the amount of direct sunlight reaching the Earth.