What is a stratospheric aerosol?

Stratospheric aerosols have been proposed as a new way to combat global warming -- but what's the science behind this proposal? Discover how stratospheric aerosols would work in this podcast from HowStuffWorks.com.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Welcome to brain Stuff from house stuff works dot com
where smart happens. Hi, I'm Marshall Brain with today's question,

(00:30):
what is a stratospheric aerosol? Scientific evidence indicates that the
Earth is getting warmer because greenhouse gases in the atmosphere
trap more of the Sun's heat. For example, human consumption
of fossil fuels releases billions of pounds of carbon dioxide
gas into the atmosphere every day, and a wide variety

(00:51):
of natural processes create methane. Both of these gases trap heat.
If we could somehow block or reflect away some of
the unlight reaching Earth, it would cool the planet down.
One way to block or reflect sunlight is to load
the stratosphere with particles or sulfur chemicals like sulfur dioxide.

(01:12):
We know this would work because large volcanic eruptions, which
inject dust and sulfur into the stratosphere have a noticeable
cooling effect on the entire planet. This stratosphere starts about
six miles above the Earth's surface, and commercial jets regularly
fly at this altitude, So one idea that's been proposed

(01:32):
is to use jets or high altitude balloons to create
man made reflective stratospheric aerosols. We could release large quantities
of sulfur dioxide or hydrogen sulfide gas directly into the stratosphere.
There are three advantages to this approach. First, we know
it would work. Volcanoes show us the way. Second, we

(01:55):
could get started very quickly. There are no technological hurdles. Third,
it's easy to turn it off. We simply stop injecting
the chemicals and in a year or two they'll dissipate naturally.
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(02:17):
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