Regrow Arctic sea ice?
Real Ice - non-profit proposal to mitigate arctic ice melt climate warming
Regrow Arctic sea ice?
Real Ice - non-profit proposal to mitigate arctic ice melt climate warming
There are still many questions around the feasibility of Real Ice’s plan, both for critics and the Real Ice researchers themselves. First, they need to establish if the principle works scientifically — that the ice they’ve thickened does last longer, counteracting the speed of global warming’s impact on the region. At worst, adding salty seawater could potentially cause the ice to melt more quickly in the summer. Though results from last year’s research suggest not: When testing its pilot ice three months later, Real Ice found its salinity was within normal bounds.
size of the Arctic — 3.9 million square miles of sea ice on average — and how many pumps would likely be needed to freeze even 10 percent of that?
Their models predict that 500,000 pumps could rethicken about 386,000 square miles of sea ice each year, or an area half the size of Alaska.
Perhaps four more years of research are needed before the nonprofit can properly recommend the technology
Source: Grist (The article attempts to address the heart of the debate — not whether a solution like this can be done, but whether it should be done.)
Author’s note: Intriguing… sure, however this is another example of alternative thinking about solar radiation mitigation using a giant sunshade for climate geoengineering. -Marky