Plan to refreeze Arctic sea ice

A team of scientists has successfully refrozen thinning Arctic ice by pumping seawater onto the surface ice shelf, adding half a metre of thickness


SHRINKING ARCTIC SEA ICE
Minimum extent (Sep) 
1979 2022


RUSSIA
1,000km 600 miles
ARCTIC CIRCLE
North Pole
ARCTIC OCEAN
GREENLAND
CANADA
Cambridge Bay, Canada: Experiment site


Hydrogen-powered water pump
Sea ice: 2-3m thick
Sea water pumped to surface
ARCTIC OCEAN


JAN-MAY 2024

1) Pump sprays sea water over wide area of surface ice for 10 days

2) Flooded water freezes over rest of winter, accelerating natural freezing process under ice

Results show they added 50cm of thickness...
... enough to better with-stand summer melt

Ice sheet
Pump head
New ice
New ice


Study suggests installing pumps across 10% of Arctic could reverse present trends of ice loss but would require 10 million pumps powered by wind turbines or hydrogen fuel cells


Note: Diagrams not to scale and exaggerated for clarity


Sources: New Scientist, The Times, Real Ice, NSIDC 
Picture: Getty Images 
© GRAPHIC NEWS