Articles | Volume 25, issue 20
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-13103-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-13103-2025
Research article
 | 
21 Oct 2025
Research article |  | 21 Oct 2025

Unequal socioeconomic exposure to drought extremes induced by stratospheric aerosol injection

Weijie Fu, Xu Yue, Chenguang Tian, Rongbin Xu, and Yuming Guo

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This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Geoscientific Model Development (GMD).
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Cited articles

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Botai, C. M., Botai, J. O., De Wit, J. P., Ncongwane, K. P., and Adeola, A. M.: Drought Characteristics over the Western Cape Province, South Africa, Water, https://doi.org/10.3390/w9110876, 2017. 
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Stratospheric aerosol geoengineering could cool Earth by blocking sunlight, but its impacts on extreme droughts are unclear. Our analysis of global climate simulations shows this approach might reduce extreme droughts overall. However, benefits are uneven: poorer nations face far higher drought risks compared to wealthier regions. These findings ​suggest that stratospheric aerosol geoengineering strategies may induce the risk of unintentionally worsening regional hydroclimatic disparities.
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