NEW YORK, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- Balloons are regularly released from different places in the United States and some sites around the globe to make up a system that alerts American scientists to geoengineering, said The New York Times on Thursday.
Every few weeks, researchers in Boulder, Colorado, release a balloon that rises 17 miles into the sky. Similar balloons are launched with less frequency from sites in Alaska, Hawaii and New Zealand; Reunion Island, near the coast of Africa; and even Antarctica.
"As the planet continues to heat up, the idea of intentionally trying to block solar radiation -- sometimes called solar radiation modification, solar geoengineering, or climate intervention -- is gaining attention," said the report. "Governments, universities, investors and even environmentalists are pouring millions of dollars into research and modeling of geoengineering systems."
Many worry that solar geoengineering could have unintended consequences, shattering regional weather patterns and damaging everything from agriculture to local economies. And the first steps could be done quietly, by a rogue actor or another nation operating without any regulations or controls, according to the report.
"The United States is building a system that would allow it to determine if and when others may be trying to tamper with the Earth's thermostat," noted the report, adding that "the early warning system for geoengineering is an effort splintered across federal agencies and laboratories."
