Slide 1 of 10
Identification of current
research gaps
Dr Nem Vaughan
Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
University of East Anglia
LWEC geoengineering meeting - Friday 20 May 2011
Dr Nem Vaughan
LWEC geoengineering meeting
Friday 20th May 2011
Slide 2 of 10
Outline
1.
Work to date
2.
General
Dr Nem Vaughan
LWEC geoengineering meeting
Friday 20th May 2011
Slide 3 of 10
Work to date
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Modelling studies
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solar geoengineering - % reduction in incoming solar radiation, 2xCO2, 4xCO2
Technical/ideas
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Assessment
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Quantitative - e.g. Lenton & Vaughan (2009)
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Qualitative - e.g. Boyd (2009), The Royal Society (2009), Vaughan & Lenton (2011), IGBP ecosystems
Public perceptions
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published scientific literature
non-scientific publications - e.g. submissions to US GAO, DOE, UK select committees, The Royal Society
NERC public dialogue, The Royal Society
SPICE, IAGP (N Pidgeon), UEA PhD (R Bellamy)
Theory
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Climate change remediation, i.e. mitigation context (various)
Governance (e.g. Victor et al 2009), Ethics (e.g. Corner & Pidgeon, 2010), History (Fleming, 2010)
Dr Nem Vaughan
LWEC geoengineering meeting
Friday 20th May 2011
Slide 4 of 10
General areas of research interest
1. Effectiveness
2. Impacts (positive and negative)
3. Implementation dynamics
4. Resource use
5. Economics
6. Integrated assessment modelling
7. International public perceptions
Dr Nem Vaughan
LWEC geoengineering meeting
Friday 20th May 2011
Slide 5 of 10
General areas of research interest
1. Effectiveness - Global, regional and localised effectiveness (i.e. climate change impact remediation).
2. Impacts (positive and negative)
(a) Direct and indirect impacts
(i) intentional (predictable?), unintentional
(ii) spatial scale - local, regional, global
(b) Earth system, e.g.,
(i) climate - e.g. temperature and precipitation
(ii) biogeochemical cycles - e.g. carbon, nitrogen
(iii) sea-level rise
(iv) ecosystem - distribution, resilience
(c) Social
(i) ecosystem services - e.g. food, fibre, fuel
(ii) opportunity costs - e.g. other land uses, emission reduction activities (mitigation)
(d) Monitoring and verification
(i) monitor/verify intended impacts
Dr Nem Vaughan
LWEC geoengineering meeting
Friday 20th May 2011
Slide 6 of 10
General areas of research interest
3. Implementation dynamics
(a) Timescale
(i) deployment
(ii) impacts
(b) Reversibility
(i) technological design
(ii) impacts
4. Resource use
(a) Energy, water, mineral resources
(i) demand, capacity, divert from other activities
(ii) waste products, pollutants, e.g. CO2 footprint
Dr Nem Vaughan
LWEC geoengineering meeting
Friday 20th May 2011
Slide 7 of 10
General areas of research interest
5. Economics
A robust and consistent assessment of technologies (using a method capable of dealing with the
embryonic nature of some of the proposals, and the decadal timescales of implementation).
6. Integrated assessment modelling
Comparison with projected climate change impacts, trade-offs with future emission pathways and
choices. (Informed by outputs from points 1 to 5.)
7. International public perceptions
International public perceptions and public acceptability.
Dr Nem Vaughan
LWEC geoengineering meeting
Friday 20th May 2011