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Data · dataset · 2026

Impact of stratospheric geoengineering on sea surface temperature in the Northern Gulf of Guinea

Listed in National Center for Atmospheric Research

Among techniques proposed to limit global warming, there is Stratospheric Aerosol Geoengineering (SAG) which is aiming to increase Earth-atmosphere albedo by injecting sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere in order to reduce the solar radiation that reaches the earth.

Description

This study aims to assess the potential impact of SAG on Sea Surface Temperature (SST) in the Northern Gulf of Guinea and its causes using GLENS (Geoengineering Large Ensemble) simulations performed under a high anthropogenic emission scenario (RCP8.5).

Here, we focus on two dynamically different regions: Sassandra Upwelling in Côte d'Ivoire (SUC, located east of Cape Palmas) and Takoradi Upwelling in Ghana (TUG, located east of Cape Three Points). Results show that in the SUC region, under climate change, there is an increase in SST (referred to as the current climate) all year long (by 1.52 °C on average) mainly due to an increase in net heat flux (lead by the decrease in longwave radiation) and also in weak vertical mixing (caused by strong stratification which dominates the vertical shear).

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Under SAG, SST decreases all the seasonal cycle with its maximum in December (−0.4 °C) due to a reduction in the net heat flux (caused by a diminution of solar radiation) and an increase in vertical advection (due to an increase in vertical temperature gradient and vertical velocity). In the TUG region, under climate change, SST warming is a little more intense than in the SUC region and SST changes are driven by an increase in the net heat flux and strong stratification.

The cooling of the SST in TUG is similar to the SUC region, but contrary to this region, the cooling under SAG is not only explained by a decrease in the net heat flux but also by the remote forcing of wind changes at the western equatorial Atlantic.

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Provenance · 1 source records, 7 field assertions
SourceKeyLast seenRaw
National Center for Atmospheric Researchf62807a0-c427-4940-870e-d3e058491bef10 d agoJSON v1
FieldAssertionExtractorEvidence
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concepts[field].local:field:ocean-atmosphericmapping · data ucar educonnector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0
created_datesource · data ucar educonnector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0
descriptionsource · data ucar educonnector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0/notes
publication_datesource · data ucar educonnector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0
titlesource · data ucar educonnector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0/title
updated_datesource · data ucar educonnector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0