Real IceBy Mark PoyntingBBC News climate reporterPerched on sea-ice off Canada’s northern coast, parka-clad scientists watch saltwater pump out over the frozen ocean.Their goal? To slow global warming.As sea-ice vanishes, the dark ocean surface can absorb more of the Sun’s energy, which accelerates warming. So the researchers want to thicken it to stop it melting away.Welcome to the wackier side of geoengineering – deliberately intervening in the Earth’s climate system to try to counteract the damage we have done to it.Polar bears face starvation as ice meltsMore snow and rain is falling in the ArcticHottest February marks ninth new monthly record in a rowGeoengineering includes more established efforts to lock up planet-warming gases, such as planting more trees and burying carbon underground.But more experimental measures aim to go a step further, seeking to reduce the energy absorbed by the Earth.Many scientists are strongly opposed, warning that such attempts distract from the critical step of cutting carbon emissions and risk doing more harm than good.But a small number of advocates claim their approaches could give the planet a helping hand while humanity cleans up its act.The ultimate goal of the Arctic experiment is to thicken enough sea-ice to slow or even reverse the melting already seen, says Dr Shaun Fitzgerald, whose team at the University of Cambridge’s Centre for Climate Repair is behind the project.Will it work or is it, as one scientist put it, “quite insane”?”We don’t actually know enough to determine whether this is a good idea or bad idea,” admits Dr Fitzgerald.Real IceThe researchers have been braving bitter conditions in Cambridge Bay, a tiny Canadian village in the Arctic Circle.”It’s quite cold,” Andrea Ceccolini of Real Ice, a British company leading the trip, tells me via a patchy Zoom connection from inside a flapping white tent.”It’s about -30C with a strong wind, which brings the temperature to -45C with wind chill factor.”They are drilling a hole in the sea-ice that naturally forms in winter, and pumping around 1,000 litres of seawater per minute across the surface. Exposed to the cold winter air, this seawater quickly freezes, helping to thicken the ice on top. The water also compacts the snow. As fresh snow acts as a good insulating layer, now ice can also form more easily on the underside in contact with the ocean.”The idea is that the thicker the ice [at the end of winter], the longer it will survive when we go into the melt season,” Mr Ceccolini explains.Real IceSpeaking to me towards the end of their trip, they’ve already seen the ice thicken by a few tens of centimetres across their small study area. The ice will be monitored by locals in the months ahead.But it’s still far too early to say whether their approach can actually make a difference to the rapid decline in Arctic sea-ice.”The vast majority of polar scientists think this is never going to work out,” cautions Martin Siegert, an experienced glaciologist at the University of Exeter, who is not involved in the project.One issue is that the saltier ice may melt more quickly in the summer. And then there’s the huge logistical challenge of scaling the project up to a meaningful level – one estimate suggests that you could need about 10 million wind-powered pumps to thicken sea-ice across just a tenth of the Arctic. “It is quite insane in my opinion that this could be done at scale for the entire Arctic Ocean,” says Julienne Stroeve, a professor of polar observation and modelling at University College London.Some of the more experimental geoengineering suggestions include trying to make clouds more reflective by generating extra sea spray, and mimicking volcanic eruptions to reflect more of the Sun’s energy back into space.A number of scientists – including the UN’s climate and weather bodies – have warned that these approaches could pose grave risks, including disrupting global weather patterns. Many researchers want to see them banned altogether. “Geoengineering technologies come with enormous uncertainties and create novel risks for ecosystems and people,” explains Lili Fuhr, director of the Fossil Economy Program at the Center for International Environmental Law.”The Arctic is essential to sustaining our p …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnReal IceBy Mark PoyntingBBC News climate reporterPerched on sea-ice off Canada’s northern coast, parka-clad scientists watch saltwater pump out over the frozen ocean.Their goal? To slow global warming.As sea-ice vanishes, the dark ocean surface can absorb more of the Sun’s energy, which accelerates warming. So the researchers want to thicken it to stop it melting away.Welcome to the wackier side of geoengineering – deliberately intervening in the Earth’s climate system to try to counteract the damage we have done to it.Polar bears face starvation as ice meltsMore snow and rain is falling in the ArcticHottest February marks ninth new monthly record in a rowGeoengineering includes more established efforts to lock up planet-warming gases, such as planting more trees and burying carbon underground.But more experimental measures aim to go a step further, seeking to reduce the energy absorbed by the Earth.Many scientists are strongly opposed, warning that such attempts distract from the critical step of cutting carbon emissions and risk doing more harm than good.But a small number of advocates claim their approaches could give the planet a helping hand while humanity cleans up its act.The ultimate goal of the Arctic experiment is to thicken enough sea-ice to slow or even reverse the melting already seen, says Dr Shaun Fitzgerald, whose team at the University of Cambridge’s Centre for Climate Repair is behind the project.Will it work or is it, as one scientist put it, “quite insane”?”We don’t actually know enough to determine whether this is a good idea or bad idea,” admits Dr Fitzgerald.Real IceThe researchers have been braving bitter conditions in Cambridge Bay, a tiny Canadian village in the Arctic Circle.”It’s quite cold,” Andrea Ceccolini of Real Ice, a British company leading the trip, tells me via a patchy Zoom connection from inside a flapping white tent.”It’s about -30C with a strong wind, which brings the temperature to -45C with wind chill factor.”They are drilling a hole in the sea-ice that naturally forms in winter, and pumping around 1,000 litres of seawater per minute across the surface. Exposed to the cold winter air, this seawater quickly freezes, helping to thicken the ice on top. The water also compacts the snow. As fresh snow acts as a good insulating layer, now ice can also form more easily on the underside in contact with the ocean.”The idea is that the thicker the ice [at the end of winter], the longer it will survive when we go into the melt season,” Mr Ceccolini explains.Real IceSpeaking to me towards the end of their trip, they’ve already seen the ice thicken by a few tens of centimetres across their small study area. The ice will be monitored by locals in the months ahead.But it’s still far too early to say whether their approach can actually make a difference to the rapid decline in Arctic sea-ice.”The vast majority of polar scientists think this is never going to work out,” cautions Martin Siegert, an experienced glaciologist at the University of Exeter, who is not involved in the project.One issue is that the saltier ice may melt more quickly in the summer. And then there’s the huge logistical challenge of scaling the project up to a meaningful level – one estimate suggests that you could need about 10 million wind-powered pumps to thicken sea-ice across just a tenth of the Arctic. “It is quite insane in my opinion that this could be done at scale for the entire Arctic Ocean,” says Julienne Stroeve, a professor of polar observation and modelling at University College London.Some of the more experimental geoengineering suggestions include trying to make clouds more reflective by generating extra sea spray, and mimicking volcanic eruptions to reflect more of the Sun’s energy back into space.A number of scientists – including the UN’s climate and weather bodies – have warned that these approaches could pose grave risks, including disrupting global weather patterns. Many researchers want to see them banned altogether. “Geoengineering technologies come with enormous uncertainties and create novel risks for ecosystems and people,” explains Lili Fuhr, director of the Fossil Economy Program at the Center for International Environmental Law.”The Arctic is essential to sustaining our p …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
