Sea Ice Targeted Geoengineering Can Delay Arctic Sea Ice Decline but not Global Warming
To counteract global warming, a geoengineering approach that aims at intervening in the Arctic ice-albedo feedback has been proposed. A large number of wind-driven pumps shall spread seawater on the surface in winter to enhance ice growth, allowing more ice to survive the summer melt. We test this i...
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ftdatacite:10.23689/fidgeo-5004 2023-05-15T13:11:00+02:00 Sea Ice Targeted Geoengineering Can Delay Arctic Sea Ice Decline but not Global Warming Zampieri, Lorenzo Goessling, Helge F. 2019 https://dx.doi.org/10.23689/fidgeo-5004 https://e-docs.geo-leo.de/handle/11858/9350 en eng FID GEO Text Article article-journal ScholarlyArticle 2019 ftdatacite https://doi.org/10.23689/fidgeo-5004 2021-11-05T12:55:41Z To counteract global warming, a geoengineering approach that aims at intervening in the Arctic ice-albedo feedback has been proposed. A large number of wind-driven pumps shall spread seawater on the surface in winter to enhance ice growth, allowing more ice to survive the summer melt. We test this idea with a coupled climate model by modifying the surface exchange processes such that the physical effect of the pumps is simulated. Based on experiments with RCP 8.5 scenario forcing, we find that it is possible to keep the late-summer sea ice cover at the current extent for the next ∼60 years. The increased ice extent is accompanied by significant Arctic late-summer cooling by ∼1.3 K on average north of the polar circle (2021–2060). However, this cooling is not conveyed to lower latitudes. Moreover, the Arctic experiences substantial winter warming in regions with active pumps. The global annual-mean near-surface air temperature is reduced by only 0.02 K (2021–2060). Our results cast doubt on the potential of sea ice targeted geoengineering to mitigate climate change. Text albedo Arctic Climate change Global warming Sea ice DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) Arctic |
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DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) |
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English |
description |
To counteract global warming, a geoengineering approach that aims at intervening in the Arctic ice-albedo feedback has been proposed. A large number of wind-driven pumps shall spread seawater on the surface in winter to enhance ice growth, allowing more ice to survive the summer melt. We test this idea with a coupled climate model by modifying the surface exchange processes such that the physical effect of the pumps is simulated. Based on experiments with RCP 8.5 scenario forcing, we find that it is possible to keep the late-summer sea ice cover at the current extent for the next ∼60 years. The increased ice extent is accompanied by significant Arctic late-summer cooling by ∼1.3 K on average north of the polar circle (2021–2060). However, this cooling is not conveyed to lower latitudes. Moreover, the Arctic experiences substantial winter warming in regions with active pumps. The global annual-mean near-surface air temperature is reduced by only 0.02 K (2021–2060). Our results cast doubt on the potential of sea ice targeted geoengineering to mitigate climate change. |
format |
Text |
author |
Zampieri, Lorenzo Goessling, Helge F. |
spellingShingle |
Zampieri, Lorenzo Goessling, Helge F. Sea Ice Targeted Geoengineering Can Delay Arctic Sea Ice Decline but not Global Warming |
author_facet |
Zampieri, Lorenzo Goessling, Helge F. |
author_sort |
Zampieri, Lorenzo |
title |
Sea Ice Targeted Geoengineering Can Delay Arctic Sea Ice Decline but not Global Warming |
title_short |
Sea Ice Targeted Geoengineering Can Delay Arctic Sea Ice Decline but not Global Warming |
title_full |
Sea Ice Targeted Geoengineering Can Delay Arctic Sea Ice Decline but not Global Warming |
title_fullStr |
Sea Ice Targeted Geoengineering Can Delay Arctic Sea Ice Decline but not Global Warming |
title_full_unstemmed |
Sea Ice Targeted Geoengineering Can Delay Arctic Sea Ice Decline but not Global Warming |
title_sort |
sea ice targeted geoengineering can delay arctic sea ice decline but not global warming |
publisher |
FID GEO |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://dx.doi.org/10.23689/fidgeo-5004 https://e-docs.geo-leo.de/handle/11858/9350 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
albedo Arctic Climate change Global warming Sea ice |
genre_facet |
albedo Arctic Climate change Global warming Sea ice |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.23689/fidgeo-5004 |
_version_ |
1766245560615960576 |