Aerosols & Shipping

Learning Outcomes

1. Define positive and negative radiative forcers and explain how they influence the energy balance of our planet.


2. Define albedo and identify important contributors to Earth’s albedo.


3. Visualize the impact of increasing the albedo or concentration of greenhouse gases on the energy balance and global surface temperature of the planet.


4. Explain what is meant by climate engineering with reference to sulfate aerosols.


5. Connect the topic of sulfate aerosols to specific Earth system processes and the impacts on their control variables.


6. Examine beneficial and potentially harmful effects of climate engineering and devise an argument for whether we should use sulfate aerosols to engineer our climate.