"Global Possibilities"

Committed to educating the public about solutions to our ecological, economic and political crises.

  • Home
  • About Us
    • Bios
    • Educational Archives
      • Donald W. Aitken Keynote Presentation
    • Links
  • Film & Video
    • “Who’s Got The Power?”
    • Video
  • Casey Coates Danson
    • Design Projects
    • Casey Coates Danson Bio
  • Angels Unawares
    • US Homeless Sleeping Accommodation Directory
  • Topics
    • Activism
    • Architecture
    • Climate Change
    • Conferences
    • Design
    • Economy
    • Energy
    • Environment
    • Food
    • Fracking
    • Health
    • Media
    • News
    • Oceans
    • Politics
    • Sustainability
    • How To Be Green
    • Visionaries
    • Water
  • Contact Us
Home » Environment » Manmade Antarctic snowstorm ‘could save coastal cities from rising seas’

Manmade Antarctic snowstorm ‘could save coastal cities from rising seas’

Jul 19, 2019 by Casey Coates Danson

[Translate]
Geoengineering

Blowing trillions of tonnes of snow on to ice sheet could halt its collapse, researchers say

Damian Carrington Environment editor

@dpcarrington
Penguins
The huge geoengineering project would need energy from at least 12,000 wind turbines to power water pumps and snow cannons. Photograph: Christian Vorhofer/Alamy

Spraying trillions of tons of snow over west Antarctica could halt the ice sheet’s collapse and save coastal cities across the world from sea level rise, according to a new study.

The colossal geoengineering project would need energy from at least 12,000 wind turbines to power giant seawater pumps and snow cannons, and would destroy a unique natural reserve. The scientists are not advocating for such a project, but said its apparent “absurdity” reflects the extraordinary scale of threat from rising sea level.

Ending the burning of fossil fuels remains the key to tackling the climate crisis and sea level rise, the researchers said. But the carbon emissions pumped into the atmosphere so far may already have doomed the west Antarctic ice sheet.

A series of earlier studies concluded the accelerating loss of ice from the region could not be stopped by emissions cuts any more, meaning the oceans will rise by three metres in the coming centuries. This would leave major cities across the world, from New York to Kolkata to Shanghai, below sea level.

“As scientists we feel it is our duty to inform society about every potential option to counter the problems ahead,” said Prof Anders Levermann, at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, who led the research. “As unbelievable as [the proposal] might seem, in order to prevent an unprecedented risk, humankind might have to make an unprecedented effort.”

“The effort needed would be huge, like an Antarctic moon landing,” he said, though the cost would be less than abandoning even one city like New York. “It is up to society to make this choice – it can’t shy away from making decisions.”

‘Extraordinary thinning’ of ice sheets revealed deep inside Antarctica

Scientists are not yet certain that the collapse of the west Antarctic ice sheet is inevitable, but Levermann said this had to be the working hypothesis. When the Earth has been 2C warmer in the past, sea level was much higher than today, he said.

“Even if we keep the Paris agreement [target of 2C above pre-industrial levels], we will get five metres of sea level rise,” he said. “I think people haven’t really entertained the real consequences of this. Either you abandon these coastal cities or millions of people live by a wall behind which is the world’s oceans, above your head, like the sword of Damocles.”

The loss of ice from west Antarctica is driven by warmer ocean water melting the underside of the ice sheet at the coast. Pumping snow on to the sheet would replace the lost ice, making it thicker again. This pushes the sheet back down on to the ground and stabilises it.

The research, published in the journal Science Advances, used computer models to calculate how much water would need to be pumped from the ocean on to the top of the ice sheet and then sprayed as snow to achieve this stabilisation.

The result was 7.4tn tons, or about 7,400 cubic km of seawater, over 10 years – though the scientists said the work was a proof of concept rather than a precise estimation. The area covered would be two-thirds the size of Scotland. Pumping the water alone would need 12,000 powerful wind turbines, but extra power would be needed for heating to stop the water freezing in the pipes and to desalinate it if required.

The research did not estimate the cost of the idea, as there are too many uncertainties. But Levermann said the largest pump in the world, in New Orleans, cost about $600m (£481m), and the Antarctic project would need about 90. However, he said less money would be needed to build expensive coastal defences if sea level rise was reduced.

East Antarctica glacial stronghold melting as seas warm

Prof David Vaughan, director of science at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and not part of the research, said: “Scientists have an important role in testing, and challenging ‘climate fixes’. I think [Levermann and colleagues] tread the tightrope well, examining and challenging this idea without becoming advocates. Indeed, they are careful to point out the severe side effects.”

Robert Larter, also at BAS, said: “I think it is unlikely that cutting carbon emissions to zero will save the west Antarctic ice sheet, as even on that pathway warming is forecast to continue for some time. So, such a geoengineering scheme, even if it was practicable, would be just a very costly way of buying time.”

Geoengineering to stop ice loss in west Antarctica has been considered before. In 2018, scientists explored ideas including building a 300-metre-high artificial island to stop the ice sliding into the sea and constructing a 100-metre-high wall to keep warm water out.

The new study did not include future global heating of the ocean and atmosphere, and the scientists said bolstering the ice sheet with artificial snow would be in vain unless rising temperatures were checked. They concluded: “The ambitious reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is and will be the main lever to mitigate the impacts of sea level rise.”

• This article was amended on 18 July 2019. An earlier version incorrectly said 7.4tn tons of seawater would have a volume of “about 7 cubic km”.

Related Posts

  • PREVENTING AN OIL SPILL IN THE GREAT LAKES

    Posted on Apr 27, 2022

  • The Guardian   ‌   ‌ “It’s now or never, if we want to limit global warming to 1.5C.” ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌   ‌ In this week’s newsletter In focus    Composted reads    Climate heroes    Climate jargon    In focus 3 min read Saving our climate is possible – but it requires action now

    Posted on Apr 7, 2022

  • The real reason Biden is calling out Putin as a ‘war criminal’

    Posted on Apr 5, 2022

  • Blue Ribbon Commission on Homelessness Final Report Calls for Immediate Action on ‘Unacceptable Status Quo’ of Homeless Delivery Systems

    Posted on Apr 5, 2022

Tags

  • Antarctica
  • Climate Change
  • Energy
  • Environment
  • geoengineering
  • Good News
  • News
  • sea level rise

Share This

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe to receive new blogposts


 

Contact Us!

Donate to Global Possibilities

Recent Posts

  • PREVENTING AN OIL SPILL IN THE GREAT LAKES

Purchase – ANGELS UNAWARES

Angels Unawares Awarded Outstanding Book of the Year – Most Original Concept for 2019 by Independent Publisher Book Awards!

Image result for independent publishing awards

Archives

  • April 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015

Donate to Global Possibilities

Follow Us!

Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on TwitterFollow Us on LinkedIn

Adsense

google.com, pub-2848125826401092, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0

Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by WordPress

العربية العربية česky česky dansk dansk Deutsch Deutsch español español فارسی فارسی français français עברית עברית हिन्दी हिन्दी italiano italiano 日本語 日本語 한국어 한국어 Nederlands Nederlands norsk norsk polski polski português português русский русский svenska svenska ภาษาไทย ภาษาไทย tiếng Việt tiếng Việt ייִדיש ייִדיש 中文 (简体) 中文 (简体) 中文 (繁體) 中文 (繁體) powered byGoogle