This planet rescue operation could cost $200 trillions in 45 years. Plus 1 quadrillion to buy the diamonds.

Atmosphere geoengineering – a promising but largely untested method to cool our planet – just got new traction with a bold proposal from a team of Swiss and American scientists to pulverize grinded diamonds in the skies.

The idea, which is detailed in a new study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, calls for dispersing five million tons of dust made from grinding $1,000,000,000,000,000 (quadrillion) worth of diamonds into the Earth atmosphere annually during 45 years. Not to count the cost of the operation – another $200 trillion.

This is way more expensive than injecting sulfur into the stratosphere as University of Chicago geophysical scientist David Keith and others suggest with respect to deflecting solar rays back into cosmos.

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Synthetic diamond dust, for example, is 2,400 times pricier than sulfur. Because it’s a gas, sulfur dioxide can also be pumped in large quantities and dispersed quickly through the stratosphere with a few aircraft, whereas solid particles such as diamond would need to be gradually delivered over many flights to prevent them from clumping, according to Science.org.

But the researchers from the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science in Zurich, Physical Meteorological Observatory in Davos, the Spanish Institute of Geosciences, and John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences of Harvard University (USA) - led by Sandro Vattioni, professor of atmospheric chemistry - left the question of feasibility aside to focus on whether their measure can help.

They affirm that dumping five million tons of diamond dust into the atmosphere per year could lower global temperatures by about 1.6 degrees Celsius.

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Using a 3D climate model, the team examined how these particles behaved in the atmosphere, focusing on coagulation (how they clump together) and sedimentation (how long they remain airborne). For the strategy to succeed, particles need to stay dispersed without clumping, as coagulated particles could trap heat instead of reflecting it.

Diamonds excelled in this regard: they resisted clumping and stayed suspended in the atmosphere longer. They also had the advantage of not transforming into acid rain, a significant downside of sulfur, which clumped more and posed environmental risks.

Despite diamonds’ advantages, sulfur remains the leading candidate due to its availability and lower cost. Douglas MacMartin, an engineer at Cornell University cited in the study, points out that sulfur can be studied in real-world scenarios like volcanic eruptions, and its gaseous form makes it easier to disperse.

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Due to enormous costs, the idea with diamonds may never materialize. Even less expensive geoengineering proposals - from dumping iron into the ocean to launching mirrors into space - are seen as controversial solutions.

Even if all humanity agrees to the diamond showers and all’s set now to proceed, there are some “technical” questions lingering: Do we have the necessary quantity of diamonds? Who’s paying the bill?

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