Acid Deposition From Stratospheric Geoengineering With Sulfate Aerosols

We used a general circulation model of the Earth's climate to conduct geoengineering experiments involving stratospheric injection of sulfur dioxide [Robock et al., 2008] and analyzed the resulting deposition of sulfate. When sulfur is injected into the tropical or Arctic stratosphere, the main additional surface deposition occurs in midlatitude bands, because of strong cross-tropopause flux in the jet stream regions, and there are some larger local increases, specifically in Northern Canada and the Western Pacific Ocean. We used critical load studies to determine the effects of this increase in acid deposition on terrestrial ecosystems. For annual injection of 5 Tg of SO2 into the tropical stratosphere or 3 Tg of SO2 into the Arctic stratosphere, the additional surface sulfate deposition is not enough to negatively impact most ecosystems. Robock, Alan, Luke Oman, and Georgiy Stenchikov (2008), Regional climate responses to geoengineering with tropical and Arctic SO2 injections. J. Geophys. Res., 113, D16101, doi:10.1029/2008JD010050.