Modifications of weather and climate: from weather ringing to geoengineering.

Blaž Gasparini, climate scientist, Institute of Meteo- rology and Geophysics, University of Vienna.

For a long time, people have tried to intervene in the weather, often using methods that have more to do with religion and superstition than with physics. Such ideas were followed in the 20th century by some scientifically based attempts, albeit with largely dubious results. It is therefore not surprising that, given the pressing problem of global warming, such ideas are being extended to climate control, also known as geoengineering. Geoengineering proposals aim to lower global temperatures, which would counteract some of the anthropogenic warming caused by greenhouse gases. In my presentation, I will briefly introduce the two most researched atmospheric geoengineering methods, namely stratospheric aerosol injection and marine cloud brightening. Both methods aim to cool the planet by reflecting more sunlight back into space. However, despite an increasing number of scientific studies, many questions remain unanswered about their climatic effects, side effects and technical details.