. 24/7 Space News .
ICE WORLD
Geoengineering polar glaciers to slow sea-level rise
by Staff Writers
Princeton NJ (SPX) Mar 20, 2018

Princeton climate researcher Michael Wolovick argues in a Nature Comment that targeted approaches could prevent glaciers from melting, thereby forestalling some of the most expensive effects of global climate change. Ice sheets that spread from continental shelves to the ocean are highly vulnerable to melting near the grounding line, which is the point at which they lift off of the bedrock and start floating on the ocean (purple). Wolovick proposes building an artificial sill -- an underwater wall 3 miles long and 350 feet high -- to block warm water (red) from reaching the glacier.

Targeted geoengineering to preserve continental ice sheets deserves serious research and investment, argues an international team of researchers in a Comment published March 14 in the journal Nature. Without intervention, by 2100 most large coastal cities will face sea levels that are more than three feet higher than they are currently.

Previous discussions of geoengineering have looked at global projects, like seeding the atmosphere with particles to reflect more sunlight. That's what makes this focused approach more feasible, says Michael Wolovick, a postdoctoral research associate in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at Princeton University and a co-author on the Comment. (Nature editors commission Comments, short articles by one or more experts that call for action and lay out detailed solutions for current problems.)

"Geoengineering interventions can be targeted at specific negative consequences of climate change, rather than at the entire planet," Wolovick said.

The ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica will contribute more to sea-level rise this century than any other source, so stalling the fastest flows of ice into the oceans would buy us a few centuries to deal with climate change and protect coasts, say the authors.

"There is going to be some sea-level rise in the 21st century, but most models say that the ice sheets won't begin collapsing in earnest until the 22nd or 23rd centuries," said Wolovick. "I believe that what happens in the 22nd or 23rd centuries matters. I want our species and our civilization to last as long as possible, and that means that we need to make plans for the long term."

Wolovick started investigating geoengineering approaches when he realized how disproportionate the scale was between the origin of the problem at the poles and its global impact: "For example, many of the most important outlet glaciers in Greenland are about 5 kilometers (3 miles) wide, and there are bridges that are longer than [that].

The important ice streams in Antarctica are wider, tens of kilometers up to 100 kilometers, but their societal consequences are larger as well, because they could potentially trigger a runaway marine ice sheet collapse. The fast-flowing parts of the ice sheets - the outlet glaciers and ice streams - might be the highest-leverage points in the whole climate system."

The glaciers could be slowed in three ways: warm ocean waters could be prevented from reaching their bases and accelerating melting; the ice shelves where they start to float could be buttressed by building artificial islands in the sea; and the glacier beds could be dried by draining or freezing the thin film of water they slide on.

The engineering costs and scales of these projects are comparable with today's large civil engineering projects, but with extra challenges due to the remote and harsh polar environment. Engineers have already constructed artificial islands and drained water beneath a glacier in Norway to feed a hydropower plant. Raising a berm in front of the fastest-flowing glacier in Greenland - constructing an underwater wall 3 miles long and 350 feet high in arctic waters - would be a comparable challenge.

Such a project would easily run into the billions of dollars, but the scientists note that without coastal protection, the global cost of damages could reach $50 trillion a year. In the absence of geoengineering, the sea walls and flood defenses necessary to prevent those damages would cost tens of billions of dollars a year to build and maintain.

The researchers note that potential risks, especially to local ecosystems, need careful fieldwork and computer modeling, and the glaciers and their outflow channels need to be more precisely mapped and modeled.

Most importantly, this approach would address a symptom, not the cause. "Glacial geoengineering is not a substitute for emissions reductions," Wolovick said. His approaches could forestall one of the bigger causes of global sea-level rise, but they will not mitigate global warming from greenhouse gases.

The fate of the ice sheets will depend ultimately on how quickly the world brings down fossil fuel emissions.

"Glacial geoengineering will not be able to save the ice sheets in the long run if the climate continues to warm," Wolovick said.

"In the long run, there are two possible routes that glacial geoengineering could take: on the one hand, it could be a stopgap solution meant to preserve the ice sheets until the climate cools enough that they are once again viable on their own; on the other hand, it could be a managed collapse meant to keep the rate of sea-level rise down while slowly letting the ice sheet waste away. If we emit too much carbon into the atmosphere, then the only viable long-term usage of glacial geoengineering would be to orchestrate a managed collapse."

Wolovick argues against defeatist attitudes. "Climate change is not an inevitable apocalypse, climate change is a set of solvable problems," he said. "Climate change is a challenge that our species can and will rise to meet."

"Geoengineer polar glaciers to slow sea-level rise" by John Moore, Rupert Gladstone, Thomas Zwinger and Michael Wolovick appeared in Nature on March 14. Wolovick's research was supported by a departmental postdoctoral fellowship that is funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Research paper


Related Links
Princeton University
Beyond the Ice Age


Thanks for being there;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5+ Billed Monthly


paypal only
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal


ICE WORLD
Study helps explain Greenland glaciers' varied vulnerability to melting
Irvine CA (SPX) Mar 19, 2018
Using data from NASA missions observing Earth, researchers at the University of California, Irvine have created new maps of the bed topography beneath a score of glaciers in southeast Greenland, thereby gaining a much better understanding of why some are undergoing rapid retreat and others are relatively stable. "The undersides of glaciers in deeper valleys are exposed to warm, salty Atlantic water, while the others are perched on sills, protected from direct exposure to warmer ocean water," said ... read more

Comment using your Disqus, Facebook, Google or Twitter login.



Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

ICE WORLD
NASA science heading to space ranges from the upper atmosphere to microbes

Airbus delivers new life support system for the ISS

A Frommer's guide to the future of interplanetary travel

Astronaut Scott Kelly weighs in on the 'State of Science'

ICE WORLD
Aerojet Rocketdyne Ships Starliner Re-entry Thrusters

SpaceX launches innovative secondary payload dispenser along side Hispasat

Air Force Chief of Staff: US 'On Track' to Replace Russian RD-180 Rocket Engine

Soyuz rocket rolled out for launch

ICE WORLD
Opportunity Mars Rover brushes a new rock target

Mars' oceans formed early, possibly aided by massive volcanic eruptions

360 Video: Tour a Mars Robot Test Lab

Next NASA Mars Rover Reaches Key Manufacturing Milestone

ICE WORLD
China plans to develop a multipurpose, reusable space plane

China moving ahead with plans for next-generation X-ray observatory

China to launch Long March-5B rocket in 2019

Satellite will test plan for global China led satcom network

ICE WORLD
Isotropic Systems to offer OneWeb compatible ultra low-cost terminals

New laws unlock exciting space era for UK

Ground-breaking satellite projects will transform society

Iridium Certus Distribution Expands; Enables Globally 'Connected Vehicles', Assets and Teams

ICE WORLD
CosmoQuest releases Mappers 2.0 for crater mapping

NASA, ATLAS to Mature Portable Space Communications Technology

On The Horizon: A Space Renaissance

A new way to combine soft materials

ICE WORLD
Team discovers that wind moves microinvertebrates across desert

Yale's Expres Instrument ready to find the next Earth Analog

NASA's Kepler Spacecraft Nearing the End as Fuel Runs Low

Study sheds light on the genetic origins of the two sexes

ICE WORLD
Jupiter's turmoil more than skin deep: researchers

New Horizons Chooses Nickname for 'Ultimate' Flyby Target

Jupiter's Great Red Spot getting taller as it shrinks

Jupiter's Jet-Streams Are Unearthly









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.