**Some programs are limited. Please read solicitations carefully and consult your Office of Research for specifics, such as limited applications through your university and internal application deadlines.**

Simons Foundation Solar Radiation Management | September 30, 2024 (LOI) and February 27, 2025 (Proposal)

The Simons Foundation has launched an international collaborative research program designed to fill fundamental scientific knowledge gaps relevant to Solar Radiation Management. SRM is an emerging collection of approaches, including stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI), marine cloud brightening (MCB) and cirrus cloud thinning (CCT), designed to modify the Earth’s radiative balance and cool the planet. Although reducing atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations is the only long-term strategy to mitigate climate change and other impacts, SRM might be able to ameliorate some of the negative impacts this century. However, SRM also may pose significant environmental and societal risks, including stratospheric warming, ozone depletion and changes in rainfall, thereby affecting water resources and agriculture. At present, not enough is known about SRM systems and their potential impacts to allow informed decision-making. This call aims to help fill key fundamental knowledge gaps in the science of SRM.

Priority areas for this call include:

  • Environmentally benign materials discovery for SAI and CCT.
  • Laboratory physicochemical characterization of SAI and CCT materials and their interactions with light, clouds, atmospheric trace gases and with themselves or ambient aerosols, with the aim to improve microphysical inputs to existing climate models.
  • Approaches to minimize cirrus cloud formation, including from aircraft emissions.
  • Assessments of near-field (<100 km) atmospheric turbulence and its impact on SAI and CCT interventions, primarily through modeling.
  • Integration of improved representations of aerosols and turbulence into global-scale modeling, and characterization of global and regional impacts of novel materials for SAI and CCT.

Proposal budgets should not exceed $500,000 per year, including indirect costs (limited to 20 percent modified total direct costs), for a period of 3 years. The foundation estimates up to 6 additional SRM awards will be made for awards starting July 1, 2025.

Application Deadline: Letter of Intent due September 30, 2024 by 12 p.m. EDT;  Full Proposal due February 27, 2025 by 12 p.m. (noon) EDT

Announcement: https://www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/solar-radiation-management/