w  rd 2 the woss

Arctic ice caps are shrinking at a drastic rate, and in a few years there will be no ice in the Arctic during the summer months. Some people do not realize just how concerning this is, as many animals that live in these areas rely on the ice for hunting grounds during the summer. What’s more is coastlines will flood, disrupting many people's lives.

 

Physicist Steven Desch has come up with a revolutionary solution. He and a team of colleagues from Arizona State University want to replenish the region’s shrinking sea ice… by building 10 million wind-powered pumps over the Arctic ice cap. In winter, these would be used to pump water to the surface of the ice where it would freeze, thickening the cap.

 

These pumps could add an extra layer of sea ice to the ever shrinking 2-3 metres it currently has. Thicker ice means longer lasting ice. The only problem? The price tag is: $500 billion dollars.

 

While expensive, these sorts of solutions have become increasingly more plausible as countries such as the U.S begin to back out of climate change agreements. Scientists say that it the Arctic is now warming twice as fast as their climate models predicted. Some even argue that the 2015 Paris agreement to limit global warming will be insufficient to prevent the region’s sea ice disappearing completely during summer months, possibly by 2030.

 

“Our only strategy at present seems to be to tell people to stop burning fossil fuels,” says Desch. “It’s a good idea but it is going to need a lot more than that to stop the Arctic’s sea ice from disappearing.”

 

The fact that these dramatic measures are being considered is proof of how concerned professionals have become about arctic biodiversity. For example, young Arctic cod live under the sea ice, polar bears need to hunt on sea ice, and seals give birth on it. It is unknown what will happen when they disappear, and at this rate, they will. The environment is changing much too quickly for them to adapt.

 

The Arctic animals are not the only ones affected. With less ice to reflect solar radiation back into space, the dark ocean waters will absorb the energy and heat up even farther.

 

The colder the Arctic, the more difference there is between the temperature of the poles and the equator. As the difference decreases the polar vortexes (winds that blow between the poles) are affected. Normally this keeps the cold air situated at the extreme north and south of the planet but as the Arctic warms more and more cold air is making its way farther to the equator.

 

Record events have happened this past year alone. Winter in Europe has been the coldest on average in 100 years.

 

Reducing carbon emissions is no longer a solution. It only delays what has been set into motion decades ago. The real solution is the complete eradication of all greenhouse gases, which is not an option for many countries.

As the saying goes “desperate times call for desperate measures”, and it is in these times scientists, the most knowledgeable, are calling for help and putting forth radical ideas in an attempt to save the Earth from its inhabitants.