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The South Pole -

According to data published by New Scientist, the sea ice around Antarctica shrank to the smallest area ever recorded in early 2022.

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A warmer South Pole -

The temperature hit -12.2°C (53.96°F) on March 18, 2022, at Concordia research station, 1600 km (994 mi) from the South Pole. That is warm for the region. Very warm.

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The North Pole -

Meanwhile, satellite observations revealed that the Arctic sea ice reached its annual minimum extent (lowest amount of ice for the year) on September 18, 2022.

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A shrinking North Pole -

In 2022, the ice cover shrank to an area of 4.67 million sq km (1.80 million sq mi), the 10th-lowest in 44 years of observations. The satellite record is maintained by the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

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Melting away -

As astonishing 680 billion tonnes (750 billion tons) of ice is melting every year due to global warming, according to The World Counts.

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Meltwater phenomenon -

To put that figure into perspective, that's 21,772 tonnes (24,000 tons) of melting water being added to the world's oceans every single second, or the same as 10 Olympic-sized swimming pools 24/7 365.

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Losing ice -

On August 1, 2019, Greenland lost 11.3 billion tonnes (12.5 billion tons) of ice in a single day—the largest amount of ice ever lost on a single day!

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Shrinking glaciers -

In August 2021 Breidamerkurjokull (pictured), among the biggest of the dozens of glaciers that descend from Vatnajokull ice cap in Iceland, receded to the point where meltwater created Jokulsarlon, which is now the country's biggest lake. Vatnajokull loses an average of 100 to 300 m (328 to 984 ft) in length annually.

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No sign of slowdown -

Alarmingly, there are no signs of a slowdown in the rate of melting, as global temperatures continue to go up.

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Sea levels rising -

Not surprisingly, global sea levels are rising as a consequence of the melting ice caps.

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Long-term effects of climate change -

Besides a decrease in sea ice and an increase in permafrost thawing, it's predicted that long-term effects of climate change will witness an increase in heat waves and heavy precipitation, and decreased water resources in semi-arid regions. The outlook is grim.

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What is the solution? -

But can the melting of ice sheets and glaciers at the poles be halted? Some scientists believe so.

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A cool idea -

Global warming could be reversed by refreezing the poles—yes, refreezing the North and South Poles—according to research published in the journal Environmental Research Communications.

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Ambitious but feasible -

The ambitious idea is feasible, scientists insist. But how exactly do you refreeze the poles?

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South Pole sunlight -

The idea is to reduce incoming sunlight on the polar regions. From the South Pole, the sun is always above the horizon in the summer and below the horizon in the winter. This means the region experiences up to 24 hours of sunlight in the summer and 24 hours of darkness in the winter.

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North Pole sunlight -

Similarly, the North Pole stays in full sunlight all day long throughout the entire summer. It is in total darkness for months in the winter.

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Reducing incoming sunlight -

The Earth is bombarded by solar radiation. This is the energy emitted by the Sun through electromagnetic waves. While the polar regions are the areas that get the least amount of solar radiation, scientists nevertheless believe that by further reducing sunlight over the North and South Poles, the refreezing of both territories can occur. But how do you reduce incoming sunlight?

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Deployment methods -

It would involve a possible future geoengineering program whereby high-flying jets would spray microscopic aerosol particles into the atmosphere.

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Special delivery -

These aerosols would be delivered by military air-to-air refueling tankers.

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Flying in the stratosphere -

The planes would need to fly at a height of 13,106 m (43,000 ft)—the stratosphere—on a seasonal basis, servicing both hemispheres during the long days of local spring and summer.

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Release locations -

The aerosols would be released at latitudes of 60 degrees north and south—roughly Anchorage and the southern tip of Patagonia.

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Destination poleward -

At those latitudes, these stratospheric aerosol injections would slowly drift poleward, slightly shading the surface beneath and helping to block out sunlight.

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Relatively cheap -

The research team estimates the cost of such a radical intervention would be around US$11 billion annually. A lot of money, yes, but this is less than one-third the cost of cooling the entire planet by the same 2°C (35°F) magnitude, and just a tiny fraction of the cost of reaching net zero emissions.

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Creating icebergs -

Stratospheric aerosol injection is not the only pole-cooling method being considered. Indonesian architect Faris Rajak Kotahatuhaha won an award for his project Refreeze the Arctic, which consists of collecting water from melted glaciers, desalinating it, and refreezing it to create large hexagonal ice blocks.

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Using submarines -

The process would begin with a submarine plunging beneath the surface to fill its hexagonal-shaped central cavity with seawater, explained CNN.

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More frozen landmasses -

Salt would then be filtered out and a hatch closed over the chamber to shield the liquid cargo. An iceberg would then form naturally inside, before being ejected a month later. Its hexagonal shape would allow it to interlock with similarly designed icebergs to form larger frozen masses.

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Another bright idea -

Another proposal being considered is a technique known as marine cloud brightening. This would involve the injection of particles—the salt in seawater, perhaps—injected into clouds to increase the amount of sunlight they reflect, the premise being brighter clouds reducing sunlight reaching the Earth’s surface, thus diminishing summer melting and encouraging the replenishment of ice during the winter.

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Freezing faster -

Scientists are also working on a concept for a wind-powered pump that sucks up seawater and sprays it out onto the ice's surface, where it will freeze faster.

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"Hollow microspheres" -

And in Alaska, the US non-profit group Ice911 tested a theory using "hollow microspheres." This entailed scattering particles of silicate glass over a portion of a frozen lake in Alaska. Researchers found that ice treated this way was thicker and more reflective than untreated ice.

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Dimming starlight -

Meanwhile back at the poles, the logical next step would be to combat  greenhouse gases by developing a process that could dim starlight, thereby cooling the whole planet, said the US team.

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No substitute for decarbonization -

All parties involved in these enterprising but high-risk schemes admit, however, that while representing potential game-changers in a rapidly warming world, they are not substitutes for decarbonization.

Sources: (New Scientist) (NASA) (National Snow and Ice Data Center) (The World Counts) (Environmental Research Communications) (CNN) (Newsweek) (United States Geological Survey) 

See also: Icebergs: explore nature's frozen wonders

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