Scientists have turned to geoengineering in trying to diminish the effects of global warming. However, findings prove that this is not the best solution as it disrupts the natural pattern of rainfall.
Lead author of the study and National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) scientist Simone Tilmes said in a statement, "Geoengineering the planet doesn't cure the problem. Even if one of these techniques could keep global temperatures approximately balanced, precipitation would not return to preindustrial conditions."
Increased amounts of greenhouses in the atmosphere in immense proportions have brought global warming and its disturbing effects such as the increase on average rainfall of about seven percent since preindustrial times.
To avert some of the effects, some scientists presented geoengineering as a solution. Methods such as carbon dioxide confinement and solar rays' deflection prior their entrance to earth's atmosphere was attempted.
However, scientists found that capturing the carbon dioxide, introducing sulfate elements in the stratosphere, and setting up mirrors to reflect solar radiations will not bring back the climate as it once was before.
The research team examined 12 top climate models to make simulations of global rainfall trends in case carbon dioxide multiplies four times over, and the impacts on global rainfall trends in case radiation levels from the sun are greatly diminished.
As expected, a boost in carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere will also result to increased average rainfall across the globe because evaporation rates are elevated.
Going further from these findings, the team also discovered that diminishing the reflection of in-bound solar radiation would substantially decrease the quantity and incidence of rainfall. These effects vary from country to country: rainstorm will decrease by seven percent in North America, six percent in South America as well as in East Asia, five percent in South Africa, and about two percent in India.
As Tilmes' colleague John Fasullo said, "It's very much a pick-your-poison type of problem. If you don't like warming, you can reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the surface and cool the climate. But if you do that, large reductions in rainfall are unavoidable. There's no win-win option here."
The study was published in the online at Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.
