Why We May Need to Refreeze the Arctic – And Why India Should Care

To what extent are we willing to go to stop climate change? It’s going to cost us a lot.

With the sea ice in the Arctic melting, species like polar bear are under threat. (Photo: iStock)

Earlier this month, a US scientist proposed a $400 billion plan to refreeze the Arctic. But that’s a lot of money, and Donald Trump is probably not going to be the one to fork over the money.

So how important is refreezing the Arctic? And why should India care? Let’s take a look.

What is Geoengineering –and Why Does it Bother some People?

Broadly speaking, geoengineering refers to the “deliberate large-scale intervention in the Earth’s natural systems to counteract climate change”. That could mean a number of things, like putting giant reflectors in space to reflect back a portion of the sunlight entering the earth’s atmosphere. 

While most geoengineering proposals are fairly large-scale, local interventions to tinker with weather systems are fairly common at this point.

Cloud “seeding” for instance, is a fairly well-established practice where moist clouds are artificially injected with chemicals such as silver iodide, a practice that leads to rain. Maharashtra has considered using the practice for drought-stricken regions and there was talk that Delhi might use cloud seeding techniques to counter air pollution as well.

Geoengineering has its shares of supporters and detractors. The former argue that tech-driven “solutions” are critical for countering climate change, especially given its rapid pace and the seeming inability of governments to coordinate an sufficient response.

Critics argue that changing behaviour is the only truly effective way to counter climate change and that tinkering with complex climatic systems (many of which are still only partially understood) could do more harm than good.

As sea ice disappears, more ships are able to travel through the Arctic region. (Photo iStock)

What Could This Plan Mean for India?

Distance notwithstanding, the Arctic Ocean impacts Indian weather systems in several ways. Monsoons, for instance, are impacted by polar ice fluctuations – a fact which is especially worrisome for India since 70% of our agriculture is still rain-fed. Research on these impacts is ongoing and India maintains a permanent research station and an underwater observatory in the Arctic.

Researchers say glaciers in the Arctic are melting at alarming rates. (Photo: iStock)

What’s Happening in the Arctic?

One of the world’s most critical landscapes, the Arctic Ocean is also one of the most fragile areas of the planet. An estimated 4 million people live here and it is also home to a wide array of plants and animals, including iconic species such as the polar bears.

Worryingly, this frozen landscape has been warming at twice the global average and there is evidence that the North Pole might soon be ice-free for up to five months of the year.

Why does this matter? Simply put, the Arctic functions as a massive air-conditioner for the planet. Part of the reason for that is that snow-covered surfaces are highly reflective and tend to reflect back up to 90% of the sunlight that falls upon their surface.

Rising temperatures have spurred the melting of the sea ice that covers the Arctic for most of the year. Unfortunately, the open sea and darker land surfaces exposed by the melt tend to absorb most of the incoming sunlight, thereby leading them to heat up further – and thus cause more ice to melt.

This leads to a series of ‘feedback loops’, causing warming seas, increasing temperatures and rising sea levels. All of this have serious implications for both the Arctic as well as the global climate system.

Could We Refreeze the Arctic?

In a nutshell, that’s exactly what the new proposal from scientists at the Arizone State University tries to do. The ambitious plan to counter the sea melt involves building around 10 million wind turbines to pump water up to the surface of Arctic ice. The water is then expected to freeze over and in the process increase the sea ice’s thickness by up to 1 metre.

The cost of the plan might be prohibitive – the whole thing would cost an estimated $400 billion and it is not at all certain where this money would come from. On the other hand, the cost of sea melt in the Arctic is likely to run into trillions of dollars!

Of course, it’s important to remember that this is far from the only geoengineering proposal at the Arctic – earlier suggestions have included using sulfate aerosols in the Earth’s upper atmosphere to reflect back sunlight.

Reindeer are one species that is suffering under the effects of climate change in the Arctic. (Photo: iStock)

The Way Forward

While such proposals are increasingly gaining attention, it is far from clear that they will be implemented. Many believe that spending money on such flashy projects detracts from the much-needed effort to implement sustainable solutions, such as reducing fossil fuel emissions and shifting to a low-carbon world.

While the way forward probably lies towards the middle of the two approaches, it is valuable to retain some skepticism towards accepting such interventions as a panacea for the “wicked problem” that is climate change.

(Shalini Iyengar is an environmental lawyer and Faculty, School of Law, Environment and Planning at Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology.)