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CTOnews.com, July 9 (Xinhua)-- A new supercomputer will help climate scientists study whether injecting aerosols that artificially reflect sunlight into the stratosphere will change Earth's thunderstorms and precipitation.

The supercomputer, called Derecho, which began operating at the National Center for Atmospheric Research this month, will allow scientists to run more detailed weather models to study the effects of solar geoengineering (solar geoengineering), a controversial idea to lower the earth's temperature by changing the direction of sunlight.

Christine Rasmussen, a climate scientist at Colorado State University, says she is studying how man-made aerosols affect precipitation patterns. Because Derecho is 3.5 times faster than previous supercomputers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, her team can run a more detailed model of how the release of aerosols causes regional changes in precipitation, increasing scientists' understanding of solar geoengineering risks, she said, and the machine will also be used to study other issues related to climate change.

"in order to understand the specific impact on thunderstorms, we need to use very high-resolution models that can run for many years," Rasmussen said in an interview. this faster supercomputer will enable us to do more simulations with a longer time span and higher resolution than we can currently support. "

CTOnews.com noted that the news from the National Center for Atmospheric Research was released after the Biden administration released a report on Friday that expressed cautious support for the study of solar geoengineering as a way to reduce global temperature rise. The National Center for Atmospheric Research is mainly funded by the National Science Foundation, an independent agency under the federal government of the United States.

The White House report, released after an open letter from more than 60 leading scientists, called for more research on a method commonly known as solar radiation modification, a way to change the earth's natural system to cope with climate change. EU policy makers also issued a statement last week calling for an international assessment of geoengineering-related risks.

The EU statement said: "these technologies pose new risks to human beings and ecosystems, while at the same time exacerbating power imbalances between countries, sparking conflicts and causing many moral, legal, governance and political issues."

Opponents of geoengineering say the use of aerosols and other substances to reflect sunlight away from Earth could lead to unknown and destructive weather patterns. They also believe that solar geoengineering may have a global dependence, because if the process is stopped, the temperature may rise suddenly.

Rasmussen says the new supercomputer will allow scientists to build and run complex models to assess geoengineering-related risks. Small changes in the composition of the atmosphere can have a significant impact on the entire ecosystem, including human communities. She also said geoengineering is the last resort to deal with climate change.

"We need to be very cautious," she said. I am not advocating any such mitigation in any way. the best way is to stop fossil fuel emissions as much as possible. "

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