In the snacks of the winter day in the Arctic, with the decline in the sun that extends its orange fingers across the frozen sea, a group of researchers dug a hole across ice and insert a hydrogen pump. It looks not noticeable – a piece of prominent tubes of a metal cylinder – but it carries a lot of hopes to protect this scene. Soon after, the sea water is absorbed from the bottom and removed it on the roof, and the area is immersed with a thin layer of water. Overnight, this water will freeze, and the thickness of what is already present.
Hope is that the more powerful the ice is, the less likely to disappear in the warm summer months.
Since 1979, when satellite records began, the Arctic temperatures rose Almost four times faster than the global average. The extent of its marine ice has It decreased by about 40 percentAnd the oldest and thickens of the ice 95 percent decreased anxiety. What’s more, scholars Recently estimated As temperatures continue to rise, the first ice -free day can occur in the Arctic before 2030, in just five years.
Researchers from Real iceUK -based, non -profit organization on a mission to maintain this contradictory scene. Their initial work showed that only 10 inches pumping the ocean water above the ice enhances growth from the bottom, which leads to its thickness by 20 inches. This is because the flood removes the insulating ice layer, allowing more water from freezing. Upon completion of the operation, the ice patch was measured to 80 inches – equal Less group of older and multiple ice In the Arctic. “If this is proven that this is more correct, we will appear to be with a little energy, we can achieve a great gain during the winter season,” said Andrea Sicolini, a real ice participant. Ceccolini and Cian Sherwin, the CEO of his partner, eventually hopes to develop an underwater drone can swim between sites, detection of ice, pumping water as necessary, then refueling and moving to the next spot.
In this winter, they gave the largest field test so far: compared to the effect of eight pumps over nearly half a square mile off the coast of the Bay of Cambridge, a small town in the Kitikmeot area of Nonafot, which is part of the Canadian North Pole. They are now waiting until June for results.
Their work is at the heart of a discussion on how to reduce the damage caused by global warming, and whether climatic interventions such as this will cause more harm than benefit.
Loss of marine ice are consequences that exceed the Arctic. Today, the vast white extension of this ice It reflects 80 percent of the sun’s energy to space. Without this, the dark open ocean will absorb this heat, which increases the warming of the planet. According to the University of California Ocean Sciences, San Diego, if our marine ice disappears completely, it will be done. Add a 25 -year equivalent warm of carbon dioxide emissions. There are also significant effects on our weather patterns: already sea ice shrinkage Change the peripheral currentsand Increase stormsAnd send warmer air to California, This caused an increase in forest fires. Inside the Arctic, ice loss means loss of habitat and food security of animals, microorganisms and indigenous societies that depend on it.
“I am terrified,” said Talia Maxagak, Executive Director of the Kitikme Commerce Chamber, about the variable marine ice. It freezes later and insomnia every year, which affects its society’s ability to travel between the islands. “People disappear, people travel and fall through the ice,” she followed. They also rely on ice for hunting, fishing, harvesting Caribu or musk bull, who migrate across the frozen ocean twice a year – although they are also, they are The fall increasingly through thin ice and drowning.
Maksagak played a fundamental role in helping Real ICE to consult with the local community about their research, and it supports their work. “If the real ice comes with this genius plan to continue freezing the ice for a longer period, I think this will be very useful for future generations.”
There are still many questions about the feasibility of the real ICE plan, both for critics or real researchers in ICE. First, they need to determine whether the principle is working scientifically – that the ice that thick them lasts for a longer period, equivalent to the speed of the effect of global warming on the area. In the worst case, the addition of salt sea water may lead to the ice melt more quickly in the summer. But the results of the research last year indicate: When testing the experimental ice after three months, Real ice found that its salinity was within the natural limits.
If things go well with this year’s tests, the next step will be an independent evaluation of environmental risks. Noise is a single concern. According to wwf, Underwater industrial noise changes the behavior of marine mammalsAnd especially whales. Likewise, the blue cod puts its eggs under the ice, the algae grows on it, and migrates mammals and large birds through it. How will you be affected by real ice water pumps? “These are all the questions that we need to ask,” said Sean Fitzgerald, director of the Climate Reform Center at the University of Cambridge, who has partnered with a ice Real.
Fitzgerald expects that another four years of research is needed before non -profit organizations can properly recommend technology. Currently, the Nunavut Impact Agency, Nunavut Environmental Agency. The search sites at Real ICE do not cause any major effect.
But critics of the idea argue that the process will not expand. “The numbers are not accumulating,” said Martin Siert, the British ice scientist and former co -chair of the Climate Change Institute. He pointed to the size of the Arctic – 3.9 million square miles of marine ice on average – and the number of pumps is likely to freeze up to 10 percent of that. More importantly, who will pay for it?
Ceccolini is not interested in the first question. Their technology is not complicated – “It has been technology for 50 years, we just need to collect it in a new way” – and it will cost an estimated $ 5,000 per pump. Their models predict that 500,000 pump can wander around 386,000 square miles of marine ice every year, or half of the Alaska size. Assuming that the thick ice lasts for several years, and by targeting different areas annually, Ceccolini estimates that technology can maintain 1.63 million square miles. “We have done much more in humanity, more complicated than this,” he said.
As for those who pay, this is less clear. One idea is a global box Similar to what was proposed to the tropical rainforestsIf the supplier is global useful, such as Amazon or Arctic, the international community contributes to its protection. Another idea is “cooling credits”, where institutions can pay a certain amount of ice to freeze as a displacement against global warming. This is a controversial idea that the sunset start starts in California, which believes that injection of gerosphere-launching high-reflective molecules into the Earth’s atmosphere-is another way to cool the planet. However, her research comes with many risks and unknown Is the scientific community concern?And even it was It is banned in Mexico. Meanwhile, belief in the system of credits has been undermined in recent years, as many investigations revealed the lack of integrity in the carbon credit industry.
Panganga Punoiyi, Climate Geological Engineering Organization for the original environmental network, which is a non -profit organization for environmental and economic justice issues, is strongly opposed to cooling and carbon credits in principle, explaining that it is “fully against us with us [Indigenous] Value system. She explained that “it mainly helps to make fossil fuels to escape accountability and cause harm in other indigenous population societies – more pain, more lung diseases, and more cancer.”
This reaches the heart of the discussion – not if such can be done, but if it should be done. The opinion of the infinite is divided. While Maksagakk supports the real ICE, Punoiyi says technology is not in line with the original values, and it is concerned about the possible damage to expanding its scope. In addition to environmental concerns, Punoiyi notes that the new infrastructure in the Arctic has historically brought strangers, often men, and An increase in physical and sexual assault on indigenous womenMany who end up Missing. Ceccolini and Sherwin realize such risks, and they are clearly that any scaling of their technology will be in partnership with the local community. They hope that the project will eventually be managed by the indigenous people.
Sherwin said: “We do not want to repeat the type of mistakes committed by Western researchers and organizations in the past,” Sherwin said.
Real ice is not the only company that wants to protect the Arctic. Arctic repercussionsIt is a Dutch company, conducting research similar to ice intensification in Svalbard; the Arctic ice project It is evaluated whether the glass grains spread on the ice can increase their reflection and protect it from melting; And Engineer Hugh Hunt The maritime cloud lightening initiative It aims to increase the reflection of the clouds through the salt molecules of sea salt as a means of protecting ice.
“I think these ideas have become very prominent regarding their credibility and maturity,” Sigrett said, referring to the maintenance of the North Pole in the annual climate change meetings, known as COP, and the Global Global Forum for Global Economy. Sergeant pointed out that these technologies are not only not installed, but people are already making political decisions based on their success. It is an argument known as “moral danger” – the idea that the development of climate engineering techniques will reduce people’s desire to reduce emissions. He said: “This is like a gift for fossil fuel companies,” which allows them to continue using oil, gas and coal without change. “We have the way forward, Carbon removalAnd we need every effort to achieve this. Any distraction away from this is a problem. ”
“It is a strong argument,” Fitzgerald, from the University of Cambridge, agreed when asked about the ethical risks. ))
Or as Sherwin said: “What is the cost of inaction?”
Those who support climate intervention strategies emphasize that although carbon removal is vital, it moves very slowly, and there is a lack of political will. Techniques like those developed by real ICE can buy ourselves more time. Paul Beckoyet, Climate System Analyst from the University of Ottawa, Espouts A. Three companies approachEliminate fossil fuels, remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and protect the Arctic.
Sherwin said: “You must be a conversation for one of them on the other and more, how to manage all three columns at the same time,” Sherwin said. “Unfortunately, we are now in a position where if we do not protect and restore ecosystems, we will face the collapse.”
