The first explorers to reach the North Pole spent weeks dragging their sleds over rough pack ice. Now, with climate change causing a catastrophic melting of the ice, people can travel most of the way to the Pole on comfortable cruise ships.
The Arctic is melting at a rate of 12 percent per decade, and no matter how fast we cut emissions in the future, it is on track to be ice-free in the summer by the 2030s. Meanwhile, in Antarctica, the vast Twaites Glacier is cracking under pressure from global warming (see “Antarctica’s ‘apocalyptic’ glacier headed for catastrophic collapse”), and Antarctic sea ice is on track to hit a record low for the second consecutive year in 2024.
We need to urgently reduce emissions, but this alone will not be enough to stop the rapid melting of Arctic ice. Geoengineering is perhaps our only hope to buy us time and protect this delicate habitat from global warming.
One solution has been proposed by Real Ice, a startup that plans to thicken Arctic ice using seawater (see Plan to refreeze Arctic sea ice shows promise in first tests). The plan is controversial: Opponents argue that this kind of geoengineering could distract humanity from the enormous challenge of reducing emissions.
Of all the geoengineering options, refreezing the poles is probably the most benign.
Still, there are good reasons to forge ahead. As well as being home to incredible wildlife and a rich cultural heritage, the poles provide enormous benefits to the world. The white crests of the polar waves reflect solar radiation back into space, helping to keep the Earth’s climate cool. Losing Arctic sea ice would also trigger a range of other feedbacks that would amplify climate change and wreak havoc on weather systems around the world.
Of all the geoengineering options, refreezing the poles is probably the most benign. Of course, there are risks, and thorough impact assessments are essential to minimize any negative effects on wildlife, local communities, or the planet as a whole. But if nothing is done, the ice will disappear and the Earth’s climate will become unstable.
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions should have started decades ago, and the delay means we no longer have time to worry about geoengineering.
topic:
