Weekly Solar Geoengineering Updates (02 March - 08 March 2026)
Weekly SRM roundup of research papers, web posts, events, jobs, projects, podcasts, videos and much more.
1. This Week’s Top SRM Highlights
2. Research Papers
3. Book
4. Web Posts
5. Reports
6. Job Opportunities
7. Upcoming Events
8. Podcasts
9. YouTube Videos
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Development and Technical Paper: A Climate Intervention Dynamical Emulator (CIDER) for scenario space exploration (EGU)
Preprint: A Stratospheric Hose for Solar Radiation Management (SSRN)
Monthly News Brief: Monthly Solar Geoengineering Updates (February’2026) (Solar Geoengineering Updates)
Book: Environmental Meteorology and Climate Manipulation - Solving Climate-Geoengineering Technology Problems (ScienceDirect)
News Article: A New Generation of Climate Scientists Warm Up to Solar Geoengineering (Inside Climate News)
Upcoming Event: Unilateral Solar Geoengineering: A Scenario (Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies)
Job Opportunity: Research Assistant or Associate in Atmospheric Simulation of Solar Radiation Modification (Imperial College London)
YouTube Video: Global Tipping Points in Oceanic and Atmospheric Circulations — Can SRM Back Us Off from the Brink? (Paul Beckwith)
Read on to unpack more updates:
Why oppose solar geoengineering? Mapping and comparing underlying rationales across actor groups
Authors: Heleen M. Bruggink, Aarti Gupta, Rakhyun E. Kim & Frank Biermann
Synopsis: This study examines why governments, civil society groups, and academics oppose the development of solar geoengineering technologies. Analyzing policy documents and public statements, it identifies eight key concerns, including environmental risks, governance challenges, legal issues, delayed mitigation, and ethical objections. The research finds growing convergence among these critiques and a gradual normalization of a global “non-use” discourse, suggesting that opposition is increasingly shaping the political and normative landscape surrounding solar geoengineering research and potential deployment.
Sun-synchronous Solar Reflector Orbits designed for Illumination from Space
Authors: FJT Salazar, AFB of Almeida Prado, RV de Moraes
Synopsis: This study explores the feasibility of orbiting space mirrors designed to reflect sunlight toward Earth for applications such as illumination, solar power generation, and geoengineering. Using a two-body orbital analysis that accounts for solar radiation pressure and Earth’s oblateness (J2), researchers evaluate polar and in-plane mirror orbits. Results show that Sun-synchronous reflector orbits capable of distributing reflected solar energy are achievable, with low Sun-synchronous Earth orbits feasible only for polar configurations, while in-plane configurations require medium-altitude orbits.
Authors: Wenmin Man, Bo Wu, Tianjun Zhou, Wenhui Tang, Meng Zuo
Synopsis: Using millennium-scale reconstructions and climate model simulations, this study finds that decadal variability in the Asian summer monsoon is largely driven by the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO). Volcanic aerosol forcing can also trigger similar precipitation patterns by altering sea surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation. However, externally forced responses show hemispheric asymmetries distinct from the IPO’s internal variability. These findings improve understanding of monsoon dynamics and offer insights into how climate interventions like SAI could influence Asian precipitation patterns.
A Climate Intervention Dynamical Emulator (CIDER) for scenario space exploration
Authors: Jared Farley, Douglas G. MacMartin, Daniele Visioni, Ben Kravitz, Ewa M. Bednarz, Alistair Duffey, Matthew Henry, and Ali Akherati
Synopsis: Researchers developed the Climate Intervention Dynamical EmulatoR (CIDER), a fast climate emulator designed to simulate the impacts of SAI across different deployment scenarios. Trained on Earth System Model simulations, CIDER can rapidly estimate global and regional effects on temperature, precipitation, evaporation, and sea ice as injection strategies vary. While not a replacement for full climate models, it enables quick exploration of diverse SAI scenarios, including uncoordinated multi-actor deployments, supporting research, education, and scenario planning at a fraction of the computational cost.
A Stratospheric Hose for Solar Radiation Management - Preprint
Authors: Roderick Hyde
Synopsis: This study proposes a high-altitude hose system as a low-cost method for delivering sulfur aerosols to the stratosphere for SRM. A hose reaching ~20 km could continuously inject about 100 kilotons of sulfur annually using balloon support. While a single system would mainly enable experimental testing, a network of ~20 installations could potentially offset CO₂-driven warming. The design examines liquid and gaseous H₂S delivery options, addressing engineering challenges such as pressure requirements, wind effects, and structural stabilization.
Authors: Lala Kounta, Lifeng Luo, Gouri Anil, Daniel M. Hueholt, et al.
Synopsis: SAI could reduce the intensity and duration of marine heatwaves (MHWs), according to model simulations using the Community Earth System Model. Compared with a non-SAI scenario (SSP2-4.5), SAI scenarios targeting ~1.0–1.5°C warming decrease MHW intensity in 25–76% of oceans and duration in 21–80%. The largest benefits occur in tropical and coastal regions. However, around 25% of the ocean, including parts of the North Atlantic, Tropical Pacific, and Southern Ocean, would still face stronger and longer MHWs, indicating uneven regional impacts.
Edited by: John R. Vacca
Synopsis: This book provides a concise overview of climate engineering, examining geoengineering as a broad set of human interventions designed to modify Earth’s climate system. The book explores how human activities increasingly shape the atmosphere and environment, and reviews theoretical foundations, technological approaches, and practical applications. It discusses both established and emerging climate engineering techniques, offering insights into current capabilities and future developments aimed at addressing climate change.
Solar Geoengineering Updates - Monthly Solar Geoengineering Updates (February’2026)
Planetary Sunshade Foundation - Space Reflector Baseline Survey - Boulder Workshop
Inside Climate News - A New Generation of Climate Scientists Warm Up to Solar Geoengineering
Forbes - Declining Aerosol Pollution Linked To Increased Solar Radiation, Study Finds
Iowa Capital Dispatch - House passes bills to ban cloud seeding and to enhance animal torture penalties
Grist - The US barely bothers to track geoengineering. What could go wrong?
DSG - DSG 2025 Impact Report
Postdoctoral Position in Aerosol-Cloud Interactions and Marine Cloud Brightening
Prof. Hongwei Sun at the University of Hawaii at Manoa is seeking a postdoctoral researcher to conduct innovative research on Small-Scale Aerosol-Cloud Interactions within Marine Boundary Layer.
The successful candidate will conduct innovative research on using high-resolution models (e.g., SAM, WRF-Chem) and observational data to advance the process-level understanding of aerosol-cloud interactions (ACIs) within the marine boundary layer. Key research questions include how the background environment (e.g., global warming factors [Sun et al., 2026]) and aerosol type (e.g., sulfate aerosols from the Big Island volcanic eruptions) influence ACIs. Improved process-level understanding of ACIs could help optimize their parameterizations in global climate models (GCMs). The candidate may also contribute to exploring innovative injection strategies for marine cloud brightening (MCB), considering cloud microphysics and cloud radiative efficacy. The candidate will have the opportunity to collaborate with multiple research teams at the University of Washington, Washington University in St. Louis, and the University of Chicago.
“With global temperatures projected to exceed 2C above preindustrial and carbon emissions still growing, there is increasing concern that solar radiation modification (SRM) may be deployed to counteract harmful effects of climate change. However the impacts of SRM on (eg) monsoons, extreme weather, and air quality are poorly understood. We seek to develop and apply atmospheric models (e.g. GCMs and CTMs) to better understand the potential risks of such measures.”
Research Fellow, Weather and Atmospheric Interventions at Foundation for American Innovation
“Reporting to the Director of Science Policy, this person will be responsible for producing original research and commentary, developing policy events and convenings, and supporting FAI’s science policy team, with an emphasis on work around atmospheric science, weather data infrastructure, weather modification, and climate intervention governance. This full-time position is based in Washington, DC.”
9-13 March 2026 | Kyoto, Japan - CMIP Community Workshop (CMIP26)
11 March | London - Securing the Stratosphere: Solar Geoengineering Technology in the Post Liberal World Order by King’s College London
11 March | England - Securing the Stratosphere: Solar Geoengineering Technology by School of Security Studies (NEW)
12 March | Online - Climate Intervention Virtual Symposia#24
13 March | United States - Into the Heart of the Doomsday Glacier by The Explorers Club (NEW)
17-19 March | Tokyo, Japan - Sixteenth GeoMIP 2026 Meeting by Alan Robock and Daniele Visioni
18 March | University of Cambridge - Climate Repair: Hope or Hype? by Centre for Climate Repair
23 March | Boston - Unilateral Solar Geoengineering: A Scenario by Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies (NEW)
24 March | Online - Live Discussion: Could Solar Geoengineering Prevent AMOC Collapse? by SRM360 (NEW)
25 March | Online - Deliberately Cooling the Planet. Could we? Should we? Would we? by RMetS
03-08 May | Vienna, Austria & Online - EGU26
13-15 May | University of Nottingham - IAA Planetary Sunshade Workshop by Planetary Sunshade Foundation
18 May | University of Chicago - Frontiers in Climate Systems Engineering by CSEi
28 – 29 May | Belgium - International Forum on Solar Radiation Modification Research Governance by Co-Create
02-04 June | Rwanda - The IAF Global Space Conference on Climate Change 2026 - Uniting Space and Earth for Climate Resilience
20-21 June | United States - Bridging the Knowledge Gaps in Climate Engineering with Experiments, Models, and Observations by Gordon Research Seminar
21-26 June 2026 | United States - Gordon Research Conference - Bridging Observations, Models, and Impacts in Solar Radiation Modification Research
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The Most Dangerous Technology in the World? - Wim Carton | Urgent Futures with Jesse Damiani
“Geoengineering might sound nice in theory, but the consequences could be disastrous. Today’s guest, Wim Carton, co-wrote The Long Heat with Andreas Malm, which helps paint the full picture.”
“Continued anthropogenic pressures on the Earth system hold the potential to disrupt established circulation patterns in the ocean and atmosphere.
In this narrative review, we investigate tipping points in these systems by assessing scientific evidence for feedbacks that may drive self-sustained change beyond critical forcing thresholds, drawing on insights from expert elicitation. The literature provides multiple strands of evidence for oceanic tipping points in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), the North Atlantic subpolar gyre (SPG), and the Antarctic Overturning Circulation, which may collapse under warmer and “fresher” (i.e. less salty) conditions.
A slowdown or collapse of these oceanic circulations would have far-reaching consequences for the rest of the climate system and could lead to strong impacts on human societies and the biosphere.
Among the atmospheric circulation systems considered, a few lines of evidence suggest the West African monsoon (WAM) as a tipping system. Its abrupt changes in the past have led to vastly different vegetation states of the Sahara (e.g. “green Sahara” states). Despite multiple potential sources of destabilization, evidence about tipping of the monsoon systems over South America and Asia is limited. Although theoretically possible, there is currently little indication for tipping points in tropical clouds or mid-latitude atmospheric circulations.
Similarly, tipping towards a more extreme or persistent state of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is currently not fully supported by models and observations. While the tipping thresholds for many of these systems are uncertain, tipping could have severe socioenvironmental consequences. Stabilizing Earth’s climate (along with minimizing other environmental pressures, such as aerosol pollution and ecosystem degradation) is critical for reducing the likelihood of reaching tipping points in the ocean–atmosphere system.”
“OCRN is pleased to present our annual lecture for 2026 featuring Prof. Daniel P. Schrag from Harvard University speaking on “The Unknowability of Solar Geoengineering and Why it Matters.”
Racing Towards Hothouse Earth | Climate Emergency Forum
“In this episode we unpack the latest warnings about a potential Hothouse Earth trajectory. They explain what this term actually means, why it would be unsurvivable for human civilization, and how multiple amplifying feedbacks and tipping points are pushing us toward dangerous new territory.”
The conversation digs into new research, including updated timelines showing how quickly we may reach 2 °C and beyond, the accelerating loss of Arctic sea ice, weakening carbon sinks, and the growing risk from permafrost thaw and ocean heat buildup. Peter and Paul also explore the difference between probability and risk, and why current scenarios amount to what they call a “global suicide” pathway if left unchanged.
Finally, the panel discusses what it would actually take to avoid a Hothouse Earth outcome, arguing that deep emissions cuts alone are no longer enough. They outline a three‑part response: rapid fossil fuel phase‑out, large‑scale carbon removal, and carefully governed planetary cooling measures to buy time and prevent crossing irreversible tipping points.”
We Just Lost Earth’s “Parasol” – And Warming Is About to Accelerate | Just Have a Think
“The three warmest years on record are 2023, 2024 and 2025. It’s starting to look a bit like a trend, and not in the direction we want. Now a team of financial risk managers has crunched the data and published their findings on what’s likely to be causing the uplift. It’s not great news!”
Anthropocene Problem: Can Humans combat climate change by being more direct in nature? | Ah17
“This presentation examines how human activity in the Anthropocene has disrupted Earth’s climate through greenhouse gas emissions and environmental change. It explains the growing climate crisis and introduces solar geoengineering, particularly Solar Radiation Management (SRM), as a proposed method to reflect sunlight and temporarily cool the planet. The presentation evaluates both the potential benefits and risks of these technologies, including environmental, health, and ethical concerns, and discusses real-world examples of atmospheric modification such as volcanic cooling and cloud seeding. It ultimately asks whether humanity should attempt to deliberately control the climate or focus on reducing the emissions that caused the problem.”
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And the "problem" I have is too much information for me to digest But, information that many others can digest. Thank you and please keep the guard or watchmanship.. you are doing a great job. Many don't see it now and I loathe wouldn't. You inspire the coulda's
( the let's think and doers).
Andrew, the thanks go to you as Earth 🔥