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Dear Readers,
As this strange year comes to a close, we wanted to share updates from Harvard’s Solar Geoengineering Research Program (SGRP), which supports research at Harvard on the science, technology, and governance of solar geoengineering.
We hope everyone and their families are safe and well. We wish you a healthy new year.
Yours,
David Keith and Lizzie Burns
Faculty Director and Managing Director
Harvard’s Solar Geoengineering Research Program
SCoPEx
SCoPEx Update
Led by Frank Keutsch, the Stratospheric Controlled Perturbation Experiment (SCoPEx) is a scientific experiment to advance understanding of stratospheric aerosols that could be relevant to solar geoengineering. It aims to reduce the uncertainty around specific science questions by making quantitative measurements of some of the aerosol microphysics and atmospheric chemistry required for estimating the risks and benefits of solar geoengineering in large atmospheric models.
The SCoPEx research team has asked the independent SCoPEx Advisory Committee to review our plans for a proposed platform test in Sweden in June 2021. This test would not be the experiment itself, but rather a test of the SCoPEx platform without the release of any particles. Specifically, we would like to test the gondola’s horizontal and vertical control using the winch system and propellers as well as the power, data, navigation, and communication systems. We would not release any aerosols, nor fly an aerosol injection/release system. Still, we will not proceed with this flight without a formal recommendation authorizing the flight from the Advisory Committee to Harvard management. We have asked the Advisory Committee if they can complete their review and reach a decision—be it positive or negative—about this platform test by February 15, 2021. You can learn more about this platform test here.
SCoPEx Advisory Committee
Recognizing the complex societal and governance issues surrounding solar geoengineering, Harvard has ensured the SCoPEx project has the guidance of an independent Advisory Committee, as noted above. The Advisory Committee has already begun to carry out a significant amount of work, including a financial review, legal review, and scientific and technical review, and they have proposed a draft process for a societal engagement review. You can learn more by visiting their website. We are grateful for the time the Committee members are volunteering and look forward to the work ahead.
Opportunities
SGRP Fellowship
SGRP is now accepting applications to its 2021 Fellowship Program, which offers short-term and long-term opportunities. Applications are due January 29, 2021. We are seeking applications from scholars in a range of disciplines, including the natural sciences, economics, law, government, public policy, public health, medicine, design, and the humanities. We also are looking for applicants who are new to the field of solar geoengineering and/or have critical views, and we strongly encourage applications from women and minority candidates. More information can be found here.
We would also like to congratulate our current and future fellows who were accepted during our previous fellowship application process.
- Cody Floerchinger, (August 2019-July 2021) advised by Frank Keutsch, is using datasets from upcoming measurements campaigns to provide a comprehensive analysis of the state of our ability to model stratospheric plume dynamics and highlight areas where the community should focus its efforts when attempting to improve these model products (science).
- Yuanchao Fan, (October 2019-October 2021) advised by Kaighin McColl, is quantifying the impact of solar geoengineering on terrestrial ecosystems, including forests and agriculture, and their biophysical and biogeochemical feedbacks to climate. He is also collaborating with David Keith on a paper about geoengineering and food supply (science).
- Irina Bakalova (February 2021-April 2021) will be advised by Professor Rob Stavins, working closely to study the effectiveness and stability of potential international agreements on solar geoengineering (economics).
- Britta Clark (February 2021-June 2021) will be advised by Lucas Stanczyk and will analyze the intergenerational justice impacts of solar geoengineering as a mitigative strategy to address climate change (philosophy).
- Ermanno Napolitano (August 2021-July 2022) will be advised by Lucas Stanczyk and will catalogue and explore all of the existing international legal principles that are likely to have some bearing on the deployment of solar geoengineering (law).
Online Community for Junior Researchers
A group of junior scientists are organizing a diverse online community of young researchers new to the solar geoengineering field, designed to engage researchers with new perspectives. This group will provide young researchers the chance to informally present on their research, share ideas, receive feedback, and create a space for open and non-judgmental discussion on the topic. The first few sessions took place in November and December and were held live on Zoom. Graduate students and recent postdocs from across the globe, including from developing countries, discussed various publications containing alternate viewpoints on solar geoengineering. Future sessions scheduled include presentations by a former SGRP DECIMALS resident and other participants as well as discussion forums and networking opportunities on Slack. Undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows within five years of completing their degree are welcome to join the group. If you are interested in participating, please email Selena Wallace: swal...@seas.harvard.edu.
Events
Due to COVID-19, we had to cancel in-person events beginning in March. Since that time, we have held countless Zoom conversations (like so many others). For example, in November we hosted a public health workshop at Harvard to try to broaden the diversity of researchers studying solar geoengineering on campus. We are also now in the process of building an exciting opportunity that will allow us to reach a broader audience outside of Harvard that will include experts, practitioners new to solar geoengineering, and the general public. We invite you to join us.
Public Health Roundtable
In November 2020, we held a virtual event with the Harvard Chan School of Public Health Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment where experts from both the geoengineering and the public health communities had the opportunity to discuss the potential public health challenges posed by solar geoengineering. Few studies to date have considered the public health implications of geoengineering, and those that have have been limited to mortality due to ambient air pollution and UV-induced malignant melanoma. This event discussion addressed questions of the risk factors that these studies might be omitting, the vast array of other public health issues that may arise, as well as the environmental justice implications of human interventions to the climate system such as geoengineering. The organizers of the event may publish a paper that summarizes the key points and questions to hopefully inspire other experts in the public health field to begin research on solar geoengineering. Overall, this event was significant because it not only signaled new interest from various public health experts who, years prior, had not yet engaged, but also because it will hopefully unlock even more new interest from a critical community that has yet to fully participate in solar geoengineering research.
Public Seminar Series
In the spring of 2020, we will launch a virtual seminars series to promote understanding and discussion of solar geoengineering and to enable audiences to learn from a broader set of perspectives in the area of solar geoengineering research and public policy. These seminars will contain a combination of practitioners and experts from around the world and will have a variety of formats including single speakers, moderated debate, and moderated panels. Previously, SGRP seminar attendance was limited to the Harvard community, but we are now able to extend the reach of this series to a global, public audience. We invite you to participate in these seminars. We will email this listserv when seminars are scheduled.
Publications, Video, and Audio Clips
The following written publications were funded all or in part by SGRP.
Recent Peer Reviewed Publications
Zhen Dai, Debra K. Weisenstein, Frank N. Keutsch, and David W. Keith. (2020). “Experimental reaction rates constrain estimates of ozone response to calcium carbonate geoengineering.” Communications Earth and Environment 1, 63.
Jacob T. Seeley, Nicholas J. Lutsko, and David W. Keith. “Designing a radiative antidote to CO2.” Geophysical Research Letters (Submitted).
Joshua B. Horton and Barbara Koromenos. (2020). “Steering and Influence in Transnational Climate Governance: Nonstate Engagement in Solar Geoengineering Research.” Global Environmental Politics 20, 3: 93-111.
Nicholas J. Lutsko, Jacob T. Seeley, and David W. Keith. (2020). “Estimating Impacts and Trade‐offs in Solar Geoengineering Scenarios With a Moist Energy Balance Model.” Geophysical Research Letters 47, 9.
Joshua B. Horton, Penehuro Lefale, David Keith. (2020). “Parametric Insurance for Solar Geoengineering: Insights from the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Assessment and Financing Initiative.” Global Policy, Special Issue.
David Keith and Peter Irvine. (2020). “Halving warming with stratospheric aerosol geoengineering moderates policy-relevant climate hazards.” Environmental Research Letters 15, 4.
Jesse Reynolds and Joshua Horton. (2020) “An earth system governance perspective on solar geoengineering.” Earth System Governance, 3.
Other Publications
David W. Keith and John Deutch (2020) “Climate Policy Enters Four Dimensions.” In Securing our Economic Future, edited by Amy Ganz and Melissa Kearney, Aspen Institute Press.
Cody Floerchinger, John Dykema, David Keith, and Frank Keutsch (2020) "A Need for In Situ Observations to Inform Nearfield Plume Transport and Aerosol Dynamics as well as Chemistry of Alternate Geoengineering Materials in the Stratosphere." Letter to the National Academy for Science.
David Keith, Frank Keutsch, and Cody Floerchinger (February 15, 2020) "Empirical methods to reduce uncertainty about solar geoengineering," public input to the National Academy Committee on Climate Intervention Strategies that Reflect Sunlight to Cool Earth.
Recent Video and Audio Recordings
AGU TV (December 2, 2020). “SCoPEx, Harvard University – New Frontiers in Climate Change Research.” WebsEdge Science.
Anthony Padilla (October 23, 2020) “I spent a day with climate change scientists” Youtube.
PBS Nova (October 16, 2020). "Can We Cool the Planet?" WGBH.
Harvard Magazine (October 16, 2020). “Daniel Schrag and David Keith: Can Solar Geoengineering Help Fight Climate Change?”
All Things Considered (July 22, 2020) “Harvard Scientists Plan First-Ever Field Experiment Related To Solar Geoengineering.” WBUR. (This aired again on Here & Now on December 4, 2020 as “Experiment To Help Researchers Understand Risk, Efficacy of Solar Geoengineering.”)
Harvard Museum of Natural History (December 12, 2019) “The Peril and Promise of Solar Geoengineering” Youtube.
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