Atmosphere | Local weather Change: ‘Loopy’ Plan to Save Arctic Sea Ice

Perched on sea ice on Canada’s north coast, parka-clad scientists watch as saltwater pumps pump water above the frozen sea.

Their function? To decelerate international warming.

As sea ice disappears, the darkish ocean floor can take in extra of the solar’s vitality, which accelerates warming. So researchers need to thicken it to stop it from melting.

Welcome to the bizarre facet of geoengineering – intentionally interfering with the Earth’s local weather system to attempt to counteract the injury we have executed to it.

However additional experimental measures goal to go a step additional to scale back the vitality absorbed by the Earth.

Many scientists strongly oppose it, warning that such efforts distract from the essential step of decreasing carbon emissions and threat doing extra hurt than good.

However a small variety of advocates declare their strategy may help the planet whereas humanity cleans up its act.

The last word objective of the Arctic experiment is to thicken the ocean ice sufficient to sluggish and even reverse the melting already seen, says Dr. Sean Fitzgerald, whose crew led the challenge. The Cambridge Heart for Local weather Restore is working behind the scenes.

Will it work or is it, as one scientist put it, “fairly loopy”?

“We do not actually know sufficient to find out whether or not it is a good suggestion or a nasty concept,” admits Dr. Fitzgerald.

Researchers are braving harsh situations in Cambridge Bay, a small Canadian village within the Arctic Circle.

“It is fairly cool,” Andrea Ciccolini of Actual Ice, the British firm main the journey, tells me by means of a sophisticated zoom connection from inside a fluttering white tent.

“It is about -30C with a powerful wind, which takes the temperature to -45C with the wind chill issue.”

They’re drilling a gap within the sea ice that kinds naturally within the winter, and pumping about 1,000 liters of seawater per minute throughout the floor.

When uncovered to chilly winter air, this seawater freezes quickly, serving to to condense the ice above. Water additionally compacts ice. As a result of the contemporary ice acts as a very good insulating layer, now ice may also kind extra simply downstream involved with the ocean.

“The concept is that the thicker the ice. [at the end of winter]The longer it survives once we go into the molting season,” explains Mr Ciccolini.

Chatting with me on the finish of their journey, they’ve already seen the snow thicken by a number of tens of centimeters of their small research space. Locals shall be monitoring the snow within the coming months.

But it surely’s too early to say whether or not their strategy may make a distinction to the speedy decline in Arctic sea ice.

“Nearly all of polar scientists consider it is going to by no means work,” warns Martin Segert, an skilled glaciologist on the College of Exeter, who will not be concerned within the challenge.

One drawback is that salty ice can soften extra shortly in the summertime.

After which there’s the large logistical problem of scaling up the challenge to a significant degree – it is estimated you’d want about 10 million air-powered pumps to thicken the ocean ice in only a tenth of the Arctic.

“It is fairly loopy in my view that this might be executed at such a big scale for your entire Arctic Ocean,” says Julian Struve, professor of polar observations and modeling at College School London.