Climate control

Abstract

Overwhelming scientific evidence indicates that the Earth has warmed noticeably over the past century and a half. Eleven of the last 12 years were among the warmest since global records began in 1850. The global average temperature is up almost 1degC since that time. Sea level is rising by about 1 centimeter every three years, in part because the oceans absorb much of the increased heat and expand. This paper discusses developments and possible technologies needed for management and control of global climate based on geoengineering. Ideas today about geoengineering are not likely to be much more realistic than were Verne's about spaceflight. But a century is a long time for engineers, and their ideas are almost certain to be only a hint of the solutions that will be implemented.