Ice, ice, maybe? Scientists are trying to regrow ice in the Arctic using a simple technique

The Arctic ice is in trouble, and a team of geoengineers wants to do something about it. Their initiative, called Real Ice, has found a way to rebuild Arctic sea ice on a very small scale, using little more than drills and water pumps.

Their first attempts proved successful, according to the group 2024 to 25 research reportreleased in June. They were able to regrow nearly 30cm of ice plus the ice that formed naturally without any help, or a total of about 50cm overall.

What makes the results particularly noteworthy, according to Real Ice, is that Cambridge Bay in Canada, the Arctic region where the scientists conducted their work, was losing about 6 centimeters of ice per decade on average. This means that the extra 30 centimeters have effectively negated 50 years of thawing in the pockets in which they were working.

The ability to regrow Arctic sea ice, if it can be done on a large scale, would be an important step in trying to offset the ecosystem-threatening impacts of climate change caused by burning fossil fuels. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the Arctic has It lost about 12% of its sea ice For every decade since approximately 1980. Scientists are concerned about this All sea ice could disappear As soon as 2030s.

This will have huge impacts on wildlife habitats and human communities in the region – and globally, as the change contributes to warming ocean waters.

Real Ice worked by drilling holes in existing sea ice and then sending autonomous underwater vehicles equipped with water pumps beneath the ice. Once in position, the pumps shot water over the ice, flooding the immediate area. At extremely cold temperatures, as low as -60 degrees Celsius, the water freezes almost immediately, adding new layers.

The team pumped 30,000 cubic meters of water from beneath the ice to create thicker ice.

There was enough ice forming that satellites could take pictures of it, even after most of the remaining ice in Cambridge Bay had melted.

This was a small-scale experiment. Real Ice occupied a one-square-kilometre section of Cambridge Bay, a site chosen for its stable ice and extremely cold winters. The group has received close support from the Canadian High Arctic Research Station and the Ekaluktutiak Hunters and Trappers Organization.

The group’s long-term goal is to deploy these systems in more regions to promote ice thinning, help it better withstand warmer summers, and slow the rate of thinning of Arctic sea ice.

One wrinkle in the Real Ice team’s results is that flooded areas had less accumulated snow at the end of winter. Snow is an important component of ice protection thanks to its high albedo, which is a measure of how much light and solar energy are reflected by any given material. Snow has the highest levels of albedo, and here’s why Full moon on snowy nights Much brighter.

However, the researchers noted that the ice they created appeared to have a higher albedo on its own, according to drone observations and satellite images. Real Ice CEO Andrea Ciccolini The guard said One possible explanation is that air bubbles are trapped from the pumped-in water and freeze very quickly, which may make the ice less clear than it would have frozen without this human intervention.

Real Ice is now conducting its 2026 field research, and hopes to answer some of these questions.

The group did not respond to requests for additional comment.