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The planet's parasol - An important but lesser known feature of Arctic ice is its ability to keep the world cool. Historically it has been hugely important for keeping our planet acclimate.

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The planet's parasol - Its dazzling white surfaces are extremely effective at reflecting sunlight, and they therefore act as a sort of umbrella that keeps the planet’s temperature down.

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Types of ice - There are two different types of Arctic ice: seasonal (or “young”) ice that grows during the winter and melts in the summer, and permanent (or “old”) ice that stays all year round.

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Types of ice - Old ice is more reflective than young ice, able to reflect up to 80% of the sun’s light. Young ice reflects around 30% only, and open water just 5%.

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Disappearance of Arctic ice - Yet according to the Arctic Report Card 2018, by that year global warming had already caused old Arctic ice to dwindle by 95% in the previous 33 years.

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Vicious circle - Climate change has sadly locked the Arctic ice into a vicious circle: as temperatures rise, the old ice melts into the darker, less-reflective water.

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Vicious circle - With less old ice available to reflect the sun’s light and keep the water cool, the water becomes warmer and thus melts the already dwindling ice even further.

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Global warming - The result is that the Arctic ocean is warming roughly twice as fast as the rest of the planet. In July 2020, ice cover was the lowest it had ever been at that time of year.

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Global warming - The disappearance of Arctic ice has far-reaching consequences: it is estimated that if it vanishes completely this would have the same effect as 25 years of fossil emissions at the current rate.

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Extreme weather - This would mean more bouts of extreme weather, including flooding, droughts, and heat waves. Some suggest that the melting is already disrupting weather globally.

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Scientific innovation - Frustration at the lack of action taken to preserve and rebuild Arctic ice has prompted some scientists to come up with their own innovative solutions.

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Scientific innovation - One such scientist is Leslie Field, who is a lecturer at Stanford University and chief technical officer at the organization Arctic Ice Project.

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Scientific innovation - Field recognized over a decade ago that climate change is not a problem of the distant future, but rather one that will directly affect her children’s lives.

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Problem solver - She therefore set about trying to find a solution to the melting of Arctic ice, which she sees as one of the most important levers on climate change.

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Glass as an ice builder - Her proposed solution is to layer the young ice with a type of reflective material, which would slow the warming process and allow the ice to rebuild.

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Material - After testing various materials to see what would work best, she settled on silicon dioxide, which occurs naturally in sand and is used to make glass.

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Material - This material is manufactured into beads that are 65 micrometers across. That’s thinner than a human hair but large enough that they cannot be inhaled. The beads are around the size of a grain of sand and are powder-like, minimizing concerns that animals would eat them.

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Material - They are also hollow inside, which means they are able to float and therefore continue to reflect sunlight even if the ice beneath them melts away.

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Testing - Over the past decade, Leslie and her team have been testing the effectiveness of these glass beads at various locations across Canada and the US.

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Testing - So far the results have been positive. For example, in a pond in Minnesota the beads increased reflectivity by 20%, which was sufficient to delay the melting of the ice.

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Testing - When spring arrived, the ice in the uncovered section had completely melted, but there was still a foot of ice in the section that had been treated with the beads.

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Problem areas - The idea is not to completely cover the Arctic ocean with a layer of silicon beads, but rather to focus on areas where the ice is melting particularly quickly.

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Problem areas - One Arctic area heavily affected by melting ice is the Fram Strait, which is a thin passage between Greenland and Svalbard, an archipelago to the north of Norway.

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Problem areas - According to results presented in December 2019, treating the Fram Strait could prompt large-scale ice regrowth across parts of the Arctic Ocean.

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Concerns - Some scientists, however, are skeptical about the impact these glass beads may have on the Arctic ecosystem. A particular concern is how they will affect the base of the food chain.

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Concerns - If the silica beads reflect so much light that the sunlight is unable to photosynthesize plankton, for example, this could have a knock-on effect on organisms all the way up to polar bears and seals.

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Concerns - Field has addressed concerns by saying that she will test the beads on plankton ecosystems and if there are any harmful effects she will explore ways to make them safer.

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Funding - The question also remains as to who will fund the initiative. The making, shipping, testing, and distributing of the glass beads is estimated to cost US$1-5 billion.

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Alternative solutions - Researchers are currently looking into alternative methods, one of which involves using wind turbines to pump water to the surface of the ocean to build thick layers of ice.

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The best solution -

None of the solutions is without its issues, however, and nothing is as effective as reducing carbon emissions. Field emphasizes that such initiatives should only be used to buy time for the world to decarbonize.

(BBC) (Wired) (Arctic Ice Project)

See also: The environmental impact of Covid-19.

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