Their results suggest that injecting aerosols into the Northern Hemisphere would decrease the number of tropical cyclones found in the North Atlantic. However, carrying out the same process in the Southern Hemisphere would increase the rate of these events. Furthermore, an effort to reduce the amount of cyclones in the North Atlantic could prompt droughts in the Sahel, a region in Africa.

“Our results confirm that regional solar geoengineering is a highly risky strategy which could simultaneously benefit one region to the detriment of another,” said Anthony Jones, lead author of the paper, in a university news release. “It is vital that policymakers take solar geoengineering seriously and act swiftly to install effective regulation.”