The global climate response to High-Latitude Low-Altitude Stratospheric Aerosol Injection (HiLLA-SAI)

Abstract. High-latitude low-altitude (HiLLA) Stratospheric Aerosol Injections (SAI) would face fewer logistical barriers than high-altitude low-latitude SAI, because it could use repurposed existing large aircraft for deployment. However, relative to high-altitude SAI, it is expected to have reduced global cooling efficiency, and the more polar forcing profile and reduced tropical stratospheric heating would result in many differences in the surface climate response. Here, we present the first multi-model simulations of HiLLA-SAI, in UKESM1, CESM2-WACCM and E3SMv3. Using these simulations, we assess the global climate response to HiLLA-SAI, and the sensitivity to the latitude, altitude (13 km versus 15 km), seasonality and longitude of injections. For seasonal injections at 60° N/S and 13 km, all models show similar global cooling efficiency, of around 0.6 °C per 12 Mt SO₂ per year, 40–53 % of the equivalent cooling efficiency for 21 km injection in the tropics. Raising the injection height to 15 km increases this global cooling efficiency by around half, to 63–70 % of the high altitude tropical case. The effects of HiLLA-SAI are more polar focused than other SAI strategies, particularly for the 13 km injection case, and large changes in sea-ice in both hemispheres, high-latitude precipitation and the polar seasonal cycle are shown. Nevertheless, our results highlight that HiLLA-SAI would still be a global intervention. For 13 km inject, tropical cooling per unit global cooling is 61–75 % of the rate under greenhouse-gas forced warming, and is larger in the 15 km case. Precipitation changes and sulfur deposition are also found at all latitudes. Overall, our results highlight the importance of further study into HiLLA-SAI strategies, which these simulations suggest could be a viable early-stage SAI deployment strategy, with global, not just polar, impacts.