A helium balloon the size of Wembley Stadium and a 14-mile garden hose: How scientists plan to cool down the planet
It may sound like the crazed plan of a James Bond villain but scientists are working on a way to artificially cool the planet by reflecting sunlight away from the Earth.
In a largely theoretical field known as geo-engineering, a team of British academics is about to announce a world-first with plans to field test an artificial volcano as a solution to global warming.
The eventual plan is for a helium balloon the size of Wembley Stadium to be tethered 14 miles above the Earth by a giant hose, which will pump out tonnes of chemical particles into the stratosphere.
Airship: A giant helium balloon would pump chemicals into the atmosphere via a 23km hose attached to the ground
Inspiration: When volcanoes erupt they fire tonnes of particles into the atmosphere which has a cooling effect on the planet
It is hoped that the droplets of sulphates and aerosol particles will reflect the sun's energy back into space, preventing it from heating the earth.
The concept is based on the similar cooling effect of volcano eruptions on the atmosphere.
Before embarking on the full project known as 'Spice' - Stratospheric particle injection for climate engineering - the team will conduct feasibility tests with a miniature version of the technology.
At a secret location a smaller balloon will float more than half a mile above the ground pumping water into the atmosphere, so the team can study the impact of spraying particles directly into the atmosphere.
Backed by a £1.6million government grant and with the support of the Royal Society, the team hopes to follow up on the initial tests with full-scale radiation experiments on the equipment, which will operate at twice the altitude of commercial planes.
The balloon and hose method was developed after the team considered other methods by which to inject particles into the air - tall chimneys, planes and even via missiles - but the favoured system is the most cost effective.
Vast scale: It is anticipated that the helium balloon would have to be roughly the size of Wembley Stadium to contain the amount of chemicals required
Researchers said the weight of the balloon and chemicals would match several double decker buses, requiring a very large vessel.
'We're looking at a balloon which is possibly 100-200m in diameter. It's about the same size as Wembley stadium,' Hugh Hunt, an Oxford engineering lecturer, told The Guardian.
'The nice thing about it is that we can really have a knob, if you like, which we can control to adjust the rate at which we inject these particles.'
The tests, scheduled for October, are not expected to have any environmental impact but environment groups in Britain and the U.S. said the eventual deployment of such a system could be dangerous, with the potential to affect rainfall and harm food supplies.
Geo-engineering is seen as a 'plan B'
against climate change, to come into effect if the global agreements on
reducing greenhouse gasses fails.
But this proposed solution, known as solar radiation management (SRM), is just one strand of geo-engineering.
Unknown risks: The solar radiation management approach to climate change could adversely impact on out weather systems, and would do nothing to combat carbon build up, says Friends of the Earth
Among the objections to SRM is the fact that it would have no effect on dissipating the build up of CO2 in the atmosphere, which leads to the acidification of our seas, says Friends of the Earth.
'The idea of pumping sulphates into the atmosphere has been around a long time and its not as far-fetched as using massive mirrors in space for the same reason,' said Mike Childs, head of science, policy and research at Friends of the Earth UK, told MailOnline.
'The problem is that we don't really know what would happen and weather systems are incredibly complex.
'We don't understand enough about the day-to-day or month-to-month changes in weather to know what impact it could have on monsoons in other parts of the world and that has the potential to cause untold misery.
'And even if it could work, it wouldn't be a magic bullet. It wouldn't address the carbon issues which leads to the acidification of our seas.
'We have got ourselves into a hole, and the hole is getting deeper... but technology has improved so we have other options to examine, whether that be by artificial trees or other means.
'There are two types of geo-engineering, one is this type of solar radiation management, and the other is carbon removal - taking carbon out of the atmosphere and storing it somewhere, perhaps underground.
'We are in a position now where we have to seriously look at the carbon removal option, but we don't support solar radiation management because we just don't know enough about the risks.'
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