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Glacial Geoengineering: A Potential Solution to Sea-Level Rise
Context:
Recent scientific conferences have highlighted two main technological interventions to slow sea-level rise caused by climate change: fibre-based curtains around ice shelves and drilling holes through glacier beds.
These interventions aim to mitigate the human-induced breakdown of ice sheets, a significant factor in rising sea levels.
Key Highlights:
- The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) estimated a global sea level rise of between 0.43 metres and 0.84 metres by 2100 relative to 1986-2005 levels.
- In response, scientists and engineers convened at workshops at the University of Chicago (October 2-3, 2023) and Stanford University (December 9-10, 2023).
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- Their discussions resulted in a white paper assessing the current knowledge and potential of these engineering methods in Antarctica and Greenland.
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- It would take 15-30 years to gather sufficient knowledge to recommend or rule out these interventions. The primary importance of reducing carbon emissions and the need for funding to avoid panicked decisions in the future.
- They discussed other proposed interventions, such as using windbreaks to increase snow mass deposition, employing cables and anchors to delay ice shelf breakup, and adding reflective materials to ice surfaces to reduce ablation.
About Glacial Geoengineering
- A field that involves large-scale interventions aimed at slowing down the melting of ice sheets and glaciers to curb sea-level rise.
- In 2021, over 60 senior climate scientists and governance scholars advocated for an International Non-Use Agreement on Solar Geoengineering, citing governance challenges and potential risks.
- Solar geoengineering includes methods like spraying aerosols in the stratosphere to reflect sunlight back into space.
Fibre Curtains and Glacier Bed Drilling:
- Fibre curtains to prevent the collapse of Antarctica’s Thwaites and Pine Island glaciers by reducing their exposure to warm ocean water.
- These curtains would be attached to the seabed in front of the ice shelves.
- Modelling studies suggest that even modest curtains could slow sea level rise from glacier melting by a factor of 10.
- It involves as little as 50 miles of seabed nets and curtains for the Thwaites Glacier.
- Drilling holes through the glacier bed to slow the flow of streams that carry meltwater into the sea.
- These holes could drain water from below the ice or artificially freeze the glacier bed to stabilise it. However, the effectiveness and ecological impact of these methods remain uncertain.
Risks and Local Impact:
- Potential risks, such as fibre curtains deflecting warm water to nearby ice shelves, potentially reducing their stability and altering local ecology.
- These interventions could impact the lives of thousands of people in the Arctic, including many Indigenous communities, whose voices need to be included in the decision-making process.
- The drilling approach might pose fewer risks to ecosystems but could be less effective and would require extensive engineering under harsh conditions.
