Three scientists from the Potsdam Research Institute on the effects of climate change have developed a Dante geoengineering project to stop the melting of ice in West Antarctica. Their study reveals that 7,400 gigatons of "artificial" snow should be dumped to reverse this process, which is causing a worrying rise in sea level. This is
a colossal project that reminds us that simulations of rising sea levels are cold. the back...
Stop the rise in sea level
Johannes Feldmann, Anders Levermann and Matthias Mengel are the three authors of a new study published on July 17, 2019, in the journal Science Advances. They unveil the results of their numerical simulations to stop melting glaciers in West Antarctica. Indeed, with global warming, the warmer ocean water destabilizes glaciers and accelerates their melting.
The decline of the Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers accounts for a significant portion of sea-level rise. The overall effect of melting glaciers has been calculated: they could raise sea levels by about three meters., endangering cities such as Calcutta, Shanghai, New York or Tokyo. But the researchers managed to find a solution to stop this loss of ice.
Geoengineering to stop melting glaciers in Antarctica
Through numerical simulations, they determined that an additional 7,400 gigatonnes of artificially created snow would have to be added to the coastal areas around Pine Island and Thwaites Glaciers to halt the process. This geoengineering project would involve pumping huge amounts of seawater into the ice cap to generate snow, but this would stabilize the two fleeing glaciers.
The trio of scientists concedes it: this project is radical and extremely expensive. First, it would span 10 to 50 years. In addition, pumping water from the ocean would require a huge amount of energy. A series of 12,000 wind turbines would have to be built to enable this process. Faced with the immense technical challenges that this plan requires, the authors admit that this would be an " unprecedented effort for humanity ".
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