Geoengineering Technology BriefingJan 2021

GEOENGINEERINGMONITOR.ORG Analysis and critical perspectives on climate engineering info@geoengineeringmonitor.org

Surface Albedo ModificationDescription and purpose of the technologySurface Albedo Modification is a theoreticalsolar geoengineering technique that aims toreflect more sunlight back to space byenhancing earth albedo – the sunlight reflectedoff the Earth’s surface. Proposals span a widerange – from growing crops that reflect morelight, to the clearing of boreal forest in snow-covered areas; from covering large desert or iceareas with reflective materials to whiteningmountaintops and roofs with white paint – allwith a common goal: to increase the earth’ssurface albedo.

Albedo describes how much solar radiation isreflected by a surface. A high albedo meansmost solar radiation is reflected, for examplepolar ice sheets. A surface with a low albedo, forexample a dark ocean surface, reflects only arelatively small share and absorbs most of thesolar radiation in the form of heat, thuscontributing to warming the surrounding area.

Creating large surfaces with a higher albedocould increase the amount of solar radiationreflected from the Earth’s surface and couldtheoretically reduce the temperature of theatmosphere, because surfaces absorb lesssolar energy. However, the proposal would notreduce the concentration ofgreenhouse gases in theatmosphere, which wouldcontinue increasing. In mostcases, the unwanted sideeffects on the ecosystems,fauna and flora, as well andhuman communities thatdepend on those ecosystemscould be devastating.

The following outlines differentapproaches to modify surfacealbedo, mentions relevantactors involved and describespotential impacts.

Ice CoveringThis method involves applying a layer ofreflective material to the Arctic ice as a“reflective band aid” to insulate rapidly meltingsnowpack and glaciers.1 The California-based

Arctic Ice Project (formerIce911), founded by Leslie Fieldin 2007, proposes reflectivesilica glass as cover material.The material consists mostly ofsilicon dioxide and comes in theshape of tiny glass spheres. Fora decade now, the project hascarried out trials on frozen lakesin Canada and the USA andtested various reflectivematerials. The project’s largesttrial site is the North MeadowLake, an Indigenous area nearUtqiagvik, Alaska.

Reality Check:

Its justa theory

Its beingimplemented

Surface Albedo Modification refers to a number of techniquesthat aim to reflect light back into space by modifying land

surfaces like deserts, farmland, or ice

Point ofIntervention:

GEOENGINEERINGMONITOR.ORG Analysis and critical perspectives on climate engineering info@geoengineeringmonitor.org

Although the local community members havenot been consulted and never consented thetrials, the testing at this site commenced duringwinter 2015, covering up to 17,500m². The ArcticIce Project plans to conduct trials on sea ice atthe University of Manitoba’s sea ice test facilityin Winnipeg, while looking for funding andpermissions to conduct large-scale testing onarctic ice. Leslie Field proposed to cover up to100,000km² with silica glass in selected arcticregions, e.g. in the Fram Strait or the BeaufortGyre.

Possible negative effects of this proposal, forexample changing weather patterns, changes tothe hydrologic cycle and water temperature, oreffects on the delicate arctic ecosystems, andthe environmental impact of the coveringmaterial itself, have not been considered indepth so far. The community members in theNorth Meadow Lake area fear, inter alia,impacts on the food web and on migrating birdsby ingestion or on human health followinginhalation of silica dust.2

Covering glaciersA modelling study conducted by researchers atthe German Potsdam Institute for ClimateChange (PIK) suggested delaying sea level riseby shooting very large amounts of artificialsnow onto two glaciers in western Antarctica.PIK has further estimated that more than12,000 wind turbines would be needed to lift,desalinate and spray this great quantity ofwater. The entire project would involveecological devastation on a massive scale withhuge disruptions to the sensitive Antarcticmarine habitat.3

A research group at the Swiss AcademiaEngiadina hopes to save Switzerland’s glacierswith a comparable approach – by blowingreflective artificial snow across their surface. In2017, the research group conducted a smallerpilot demonstration trial in a section of theSwiss Diavolezzafirn glacier to prove thetechnology. Further trials will be conducted atthe Morteratsch glacier, with funding providedby the Swiss Innovation Agency. The approachrequires a very large quantity of water andenergy.4

Researchers at Ohio State University haveproposed covering sections of the Greenlandice sheet with reflective material to preventglaciers from further melting.

In 2009, the proposal was demonstrated bycovering an area of two acres with reflectivepolypropylene blankets. The idea has beenadopted from the Alps where white blankets areregularly used by local mountain lift companiesto cover glaciers as a reflective shield to protectskiing areas (and ski resort income). Theimplementation of this proposal means anincreased consumption of fossil raw materialsand high costs: The blanket materialpolypropylene is produced from crude oil andthe material costs for covering one squarekilometer of glacier ice are estimated atUS$ 4,6 million. This estimate excludes thecosts for recycling at the end of the product’slifetime.5

High Albedo CropsSeveral researchers, especially a team ofresearchers at the University of Bristol, UK,proposed to modify agricultural crops to createplants with more reflective leaves. Proponentsclaim that if crops with a higher albedo would begrown on farmland, this would help to cool theatmosphere by reflecting more solar radiationback into space. To increase crop albedo, bothtraditional breeding techniques or geneticengineering have been proposed.6

Little is known about the potential risks ofincreased reflectivity for the nutritional contentof the plants, their photosynthetic capacity oron surrounding soil.

Genetically engineered plants could spreadtheir “reflectivity” engineered character to otherrelatives, with unknown consequences: Usinggenetically modified crops or trees carries allthe biosafety and land use impacts of theseplantations, including soil erosion and heavyuse of contaminating agrochemicals.

High-albedo crop? A barley field Photo from Jens Schott Knudsen via Flickr

GEOENGINEERINGMONITOR.ORG Analysis and critical perspectives on climate engineering info@geoengineeringmonitor.org

Snow Forest ClearanceAn international team ofresearchers modelled theinfluence of boreal forestareas on the climate anddeveloped the theory thatclearing the planet’sremaining areas of borealforest – north of 45 degreeslatitude, largely in Russia andCanada – would have acooling effect because snowcover reflects solar radiation,while nearby boreal forestabsorbs the radiation. Thestudies were led by theforestry school at Yale and by Dartmouthcollege, with partial funding from the USDepartment of Energy.

The creation of “white deserts” could destroysubarctic ecosystem productivity, negativelyaffecting the plants and people that depend onthem as well as the caribou, migrating birds andother fauna.7 Eliminating forest wouldnegatively affect the regulation of regional andlocal climates. Carbon contained in forest wouldalso be lost. Proponents admit that there aremany complexities. It would however be a one-time, final bonanza for timber companies.8

Desert CoveringMore than a decade ago, entrepreneur AlviaGaskill laid out a scheme to cover a significantportion of the world’s deserts with white,polyethylene film to reflect sunlight and lowersurface temperatures.9

Deserts have plants, animals and people livingin them, and it is difficult to imagine lifecontinuing in a plastic-covered ecosystem.Desert dust, which will be hindered by plasticcoverings, is essential for the global climatebecause it influences solar radiation, cloudformation and even ocean cooling.10 Coolerdesert temperatures may also bring unexpectedchanges.

Like many geoengineers, Gaskill suggests ifthere are too many political, ecological orweather challenges (the plastic has to be kept inplace for several hundred years, for example),the projects could be local. However, localapplications would have a minimal climateeffect and would not justify the expense andsocio ecological disruption.

Painting roofs,pavements and mountaintopsIn 2010, the World Bankawarded a small grant toGlaciares Peru, a companyfounded by Eduardo Gold, sothat he could paint aPeruvian mountaintopwhite.11 Paintingmountaintops wouldnegatively affect fragileecosystems, flora and fauna,and seems unlikely to bepursued any further. Urban

albedo enhancement – painting surfaces suchas roofs and pavements white or adding areflective layer – has been considered andmodelled by various researchers, among themHashem Akbari of Concordia University inMontreal, who has promoted the idea ofgovernment grants to cover rooftops andtarmac with white paint.12 Several initiativesworldwide have taken up the idea, among themthe CoolRoofs Initiative in New York City, whichpainted 50 hectares of roof surfaces with abright, reflective coating.13 Painting roofs couldhave some local cooling effects, though a RoyalSociety report states that “the overall cost of a‘white roof method’ covering an area of 1% ofthe land surface would cost about US$300billion/year, making this one of the leasteffective and most expensive methodsconsidered.”14 Scientists at Stanford Universityhave suggested that “roofs covered inphotovoltaic panels would do a better job, byproducing electricity that then obviates theneed for more fossil fuel–burning powerplants”.15

Marine albedo enhancementThere are also proposals to alter the albedo(reflectivity) of water surfaces and of marineclouds. These approaches are detailed in theTechnology Briefings on Microbubbles/SeaFoam and Marine Cloud Brightening.

Snow Forest Clearance would involve removing vast swaths of boreal forest

GEOENGINEERINGMONITOR.ORG Analysis and critical perspectives on climate engineering info@geoengineeringmonitor.org

Endnotes1 McGlynn (2017) One big reflective band-aid, in: Berkeley Engineering Blogpost, January 17, 2017,

http://engineering.berkeley.edu/2017/01/one-big-reflective-band-aid2 ETC Group and Heinrich Böll Foundation (2020) Geoengineering Map, https://map.geoengineeringmonitor.org; Field,

et al. (2018) Increasing Arctic Sea Ice Albedo Using Localized Reversible Geoengineering, in Earth’s Future, Vol. 6(6):882 - 901, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018EF000820; Jay (2019) Arctic Geoengineering Experiment Is Dangerous, LacksCommunity Consent: Inupiaq Organizer, in Geoengineering Monitor, published: February 14, 2019,http://www.geoengineeringmonitor.org/2019/02/arctic-geoengineering-experiment-is-dangerous-lacks-community-consent-inupiaq-organizer/

3 Feldmann, et al. (2019) Stabilizing the West Antarctic Ice Sheet by surface mass deposition, in Science Advances, Vol.5(7), https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaw4132; Geoengineering Monitor (2019) Sacrificing Antarctica withgeoengineering to save northern cities from the fossil fuel industry?, published: July 19, 2019,http://www.geoengineeringmonitor.org/2019/07/sacrificing-antarctica-with-geoengineering-to-save-northern-cities-from-the-fossil-fuel-industry/; ETC Group and Heinrich Böll Foundation (2020)

4 ETC Group and Heinrich Böll Foundation (2020)5 ETC Group and Heinrich Böll Foundation (2020)6 Marshall (2009) Reflective crops could soften climate change blow, in NERC Planet Earth, published: January 20,

2009, http://www.nerc.ac.uk/planetearth/stories/298/; Morton (2009) Crops that cool, in Nature, published: January15, 2009, https://doi.org/10.1038/news.2009.33; ETC Group and Heinrich Böll Foundation (2020)

7 Lee, et al. (2011) Observed increase in local cooling effect of deforestation at higher latitudes, in Nature, Vol. 479: 384- 387, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10588; Yale University (2011) Deforestation causes cooling, study shows, inPhys.org, published: November 16, 2011, https://phys.org/news/2011-11-deforestation-cooling.html; ETC Group andHeinrich Böll Foundation (2020)

8 Swaminathan (2007) More Trees, Less Global Warming – Right? Not Exactly, in Scientific American, published: April10, 2007, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/tropical-forests-cool-earth/ ; Walsh (2011) How (Some)Deforestation Might Slow Warming, in: Time, published: November 16, 2011, http://science.time.com/2011/11/16/how-some-deforestation-might-slow-warming/

9 ETC Group and Heinrich Böll Foundation (2020)10 Goudie and Middleton (2006) Desert Dust in the Global System, published by Springer, ISBN-10: 3540323546,

https://www.springer.com/la/book/978354032354911 ETC Group and Heinrich Böll Foundation (2020)12 Akbari: List of publications, Concordia University, http://concordia.academia.edu/HashemAkbari; Biello (2014) Cool

Roofs Might Be Enough to Save Cities from Climate Overheating, in Scientific American, published: February 14, 2014,https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/cool-roofs-might-be-enough-to-save-cities-from-climate-overheating/

13 ETC Group and Heinrich Böll Foundation (2020)14 The Royal Society (2009) Geoengineering the climate: Science, governance and uncertainty, ISBN: 978-0-85403-

773-5, https://royalsociety.org/~/media/Royal_Society_Content/policy/publications/2009/8693.pdf15 Biello (2014)

Reality checkUntil now, most of the described approachesare based on modelling, but various small-scaletrials with reflective materials on ice have beenconducted and larger-scale trials are envisaged.Research into high-albedo crops aligns withglobal efforts to engineer the world’s foodsupply, so this idea may gain attention andfunding.

All these proposals are clear examples of thenarrow-minded, reductionist mentality thatcharacterizes geoengineering, which ignoresthe profound value of biodiversity and overlooksthe multifunctionality and interconnectednessof ecosystems.

Further readingETC Group and Heinrich Böll Foundation,

“Geoengineering Map”,

https://map.geoengineeringmonitor.org/