Increasing Arctic Sea Ice Albedo Using Localized Reversible Geoengineering

Abstract The rising costs of climate change merit serious evaluation of potential climate restoration solutions. The highest rate of change in climate is observed in the Arctic where the summer ice is diminishing at an accelerated rate. The loss of Arctic sea ice increases radiative forcing and cont...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Earth's Future
Main Authors: L. Field, D. Ivanova, S. Bhattacharyya, V. Mlaker, A. Sholtz, R. Decca, A. Manzara, D. Johnson, E. Christodoulou, P. Walter, K. Katuri
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2018
Subjects:
Arctic ice restoration
geoengineering
albedo modification
2018 IPCC 1.5°
climate change
climate modeling
Environmental sciences
GE1-350
Ecology
QH540-549.5
Arctic
Canada
Lever
albedo
Central Arctic
Climate change
Global warming
Sea ice
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1029/2018EF000820
https://doaj.org/article/dd868d416cb24bf78cc42618d5259f66
Description
Summary:Abstract The rising costs of climate change merit serious evaluation of potential climate restoration solutions. The highest rate of change in climate is observed in the Arctic where the summer ice is diminishing at an accelerated rate. The loss of Arctic sea ice increases radiative forcing and contributes to global warming. Restoring reflectivity of Arctic ice could be a powerful lever to help in the effort to limit global warming to 1.5°C. Polar ice restoration should be considered in planning of 1.5°C pathways. In this paper, a novel localized surface albedo modification technique is presented that shows promise as a method to increase multiyear ice using reflective floating materials, chosen so as to have low subsidiary environmental impact. Detailed climate modeling studying the climate impact of such a method reveals more than 1.5°C cooler temperatures over a large part of the Arctic when simulating global sea ice albedo modification. In a region north of Barents and Kara Seas temperatures have been reduced by 3°C and in North Canada by almost 1°C. Additionally, there are notable increases in sea ice thickness (20–50 cm Arctic wide) and ice concentration (>15–20% across large parts of central Arctic). These results suggest that the geoengineering technology proposed in this study may be a viable instrument for restoring Arctic ice.

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