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Scientists Propose Plan To Re-Freeze the Arctic (inhabitat.com)

Kristine Lofgren writes: In case you've been under a rock for the past 20 years, the Arctic is melting super fast. Certain *ahem* governments are dragging their feet doing anything about it, which means the planet could be in for a spectacular meltdown within the next 20 years. But a clever bunch of scientists have hatched a plan to re-freeze the Arctic using wind-powered pumps that will bring water to the surface, allowing it to freeze. This new layer of ice could last well into the summer, which is vital, because scientists think summer Arctic ice could be gone by 2030 -- and that causes a whole chain of terrible events that will only make our climate change problem much, much worse. The plan has a $500 billion price tag, but that's pocket change compared to the cost of dealing with an ice-free Arctic. The study has been published in The American Geophysical Union's journal Earth's Future. You can read more about the study via The Guardian.

41 of 401 comments (clear)

  1. Climate change deniers by buss_error · · Score: 2, Interesting

    When I get time, I'd like to use satellite photos of the arctic into a time lapse video, play it, then ask "Now, what was it you were saying about climate change being a scam?"

    --
    Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
    1. Re:Climate change deniers by Layzej · · Score: 4, Informative
    2. Re:Climate change deniers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      When I get time, I'd like to use satellite photos of the arctic into a time lapse video, play it, then ask "Now, what was it you were saying about climate change being a scam?"

      The argument is that it's cyclical and happens regardless of human action. Anyone straight "denying" is just an idiot polarized by the current state of entertainment/politics. The intelligent argument against crazy ideas like this is that companies/people are making a lot of money selling what could very well be snake oil on a process we have very little data on and therefore have very little understanding.

    3. Re: Climate change deniers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      They're becoming activists because the science is being ignored and putting our existence in jeopardy.

    4. Re: Climate change deniers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Enough already.

      "NOAA climate fraud" is your hypothesis. Fine. Test it. Collect your evidence, share it and discuss it. What must that evidence consist of?

      "Fraud" is going to be documents that show deliberate and deceptive behavior, likely for personal gain. Ok. Youneed to find evidence that demonstrates that tens of thousands of scientists across the entire world and spanning dozens of disciplines are deliberately deceiving the lay public on climate change. These scientists are faking their data, misrepresenting it and are working together to do this to deceive the lay public. Who, exactly, is coordinating this?

      Finally, a word about how the NSF grant system works: it's really, really, hard to get funded, and once you do, you must manage the fundsyou receive with great care. It is the distribution of these federal funds that is key -- lying about _anything_ is a serious problem for thelarger institution -- let alone the NSF because Congress (and likely state legislatures) come down on these institutions like a ton of bricks.

    5. Re:Climate change deniers by dbIII · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Spot on. It's perfectly normal for the climate to vary from what it was before when we've changed the atmosphere so much by adding so much carbon dioxide to it.
      Oh? You expected something else?

    6. Re: Climate change deniers by Maritz · · Score: 5, Informative

      It's a fraud because he doesn't like the conclusions. End of.

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
    7. Re:Climate change deniers by Stephan+Schulz · · Score: 2

      When I get time, I'd like to use satellite photos of the arctic into a time lapse video, play it, then ask "Now, what was it you were saying about climate change being a scam?"

      And presumably the other side simply pulls out this 2008 Al Gore video where he predicts that the arctic would be ice-free in 5 years:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

      And if someone actually listens to your video of Gore, he or she will hopefully notice that Gore does not predict anything like that at all - he cites two different researchers, one who says "by 2030", and the other who says "75% chance for the next 5-7 years". The first one is still very much on track. The second one lost his bet - if via the 25% chance or because his modelling was wrong is anyones guess.

      --

      Stephan

  2. Without even reading the $500 billion plan... by Ecuador · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Without even reading the $500 billion plan, I can tell that there is no way they have though of all the consequences of using 10 million wind powered pumps to bring water to the top for it to freeze.

    --
    Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
    1. Re:Without even reading the $500 billion plan... by Fragnet · · Score: 4, Funny

      I want to see them do it only because it's the most idiotic scheme I've ever heard of.

    2. Re:Without even reading the $500 billion plan... by Wycliffe · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Without even reading the $500 billion plan, I can tell that there is no way they have though of all the consequences of using 10 million wind powered pumps to bring water to the top for it to freeze.

      And isn't the Arctic ice mostly fresh water? Even if you can get the salt water to freeze, it's going to melt at a much warmer temperature and will do drastically different things to the environment than slowly melting fresh water ice.

    3. Re: Without even reading the $500 billion plan... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      As opposed to the carefully thought out consequences of burning gigatons of ancient carbon?

    4. Re:Without even reading the $500 billion plan... by JoeMerchant · · Score: 2

      You think you're going to deploy a wind powered pump in the arctic for $5000 apiece, even at scale? Not if you want that pump to last more than a single season.

    5. Re:Without even reading the $500 billion plan... by franzrogar · · Score: 2

      More idiotic than when US scientists suggested to use a huge solar umbrella in the atmosphere to stop the climate change?

    6. Re:Without even reading the $500 billion plan... by rhazz · · Score: 3, Funny

      Don't worry, it may be entirely ineffective, but we're going to make the polar bears pay for it.

  3. Sea ice vs projections by Layzej · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here's how arctic sea ice has fared relative to IPCC projections: http://neven1.typepad.com/.a/6...

    1. Re:Sea ice vs projections by pslytely+psycho · · Score: 4, Interesting

      You have quite a strong opinion for someone who "Don't give a shit."

      Just another painfully obvious troll lacking any true skills at the task you have apparently chosen to devote your time to. A simpleton who sees life in only the simplest of terms lacking enough understanding of the world to face the facts head on when it's so much easier to call those more educated than you liars.
      Does having your head in the sand and ass in the air make the anal rape more bearable?
      So I curse thee thus:
      May thou live on the coast and live long enough to get the full brunt of that which thou callest foul and profane. May you end thy days fearfully gripping to top of a telephone pole trying to escape the rising waters. May you get rescued by a boatload of scientists whom immediately throw you overboard when you start spouting off nonsense. And finally may the last thing that passes through your brain be the realization that yes, you were a truly stupid person.

      --
      Donald Trump, on a crusade to make Nixon look respectable
  4. Not gonna happen by LTIfox · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Russia needs ice free Arctic. For shipping and future oil rigs.

    1. Re:Not gonna happen by bluegutang · · Score: 2

      I think more accurately: Russia needs oil revenue to balance its budget. If the world stops using oil, Russia stops being a superpower. So they have to fight environmental movements at all costs.

  5. Not going to happen by Baron_Yam · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Here's the chronology:

    1) You're being alarmist, there's no issue.

    2) You're being alarmist, this isn't worth spending 500 billion on.

    3) The environmental impact of attempting this could be worse than allowing things to progress naturally.

    4) Too expensive, nobody goes there anyway, and we don't need polar bears to survive. Shame, though.

    5) Well, now it's too late anyway.

    I'm actually kind of on board with #3, but I think we really ought to be getting our asses in gear and looking at the impact of mitigation strategies at the 'global environmental engineering' scale, and maybe doing a few local-scale tests to help build better models to aid in the assessments.

    1. Re:Not going to happen by dbIII · · Score: 2

      1) You're being alarmist, there's no issue.

      Indeed, there were so many people on this very web site that ranted that the Arctic would never melt.

      When did all this weird science denialism on climate start? I first noticed it around 1996 and filed it with crystal healing pyramid power, but the shit really spread.

    2. Re: Not going to happen by cyber-vandal · · Score: 2

      People resent being asked to pay more for fuel for their monster trucks.

    3. Re:Not going to happen by jandersen · · Score: 4, Informative

      ...we really ought to be getting our asses in gear and looking at the impact of mitigation strategies at the 'global environmental engineering' scale, and maybe doing a few local-scale tests to help build better models to aid in the assessments.

      The idiocy in this is not only in engaging in dubious and expensive schemes that will either not work, may exacerbates the instability of the climate, could be irreversible, might lead to run-away effects etc etc - but we are doing this to avoid having to simply make a few, easy adjustments to our lifestyles, like cut back on brainless consumerism and the myth that the economy must - or even can - grow forever. We are already living on borrowed time; we are using up limited resources and we still resist even thinking about renewable energy - we are only able to feed the 7+ billion people on the planet by spending lots of energy on producing artificial fetilizers (something like 40% of the nitrogen in our bodies now comes from artificial fertilizer - check for yourself). We are already at the point where it would take just 1 year or so of disruption in our chemical industries to produce a worldwide hunger catastrophe, just to put it into a bit of perspective.

      All in all, we really do need to be willing to accept changes - wasting effort on hare-brained shemes is stupid. Climate is only one of the big threats we face, and we can to some extent simply adjust to it, but unless we learn to curb overconsumption in a serious way, it won't matter all that much. Call me alarmist if you will, but I'd much rather be ridiculed by morons today, than have my children and grand-children live through the alternatives.

  6. Re:Bullshit. Ask "The Polar Ocean Challenge" by Mr0bvious · · Score: 2, Informative

    What's your point? Because a ship got stuck in some ice are you inferring there is no Arctic ice melting issue?

    Eeek, I hope you're not in a decision making position there.

    --
    Never happened. True story.
  7. Re:Bullshit. Ask "The Polar Ocean Challenge" by hyades1 · · Score: 2

    So because one ship got stuck in the ice IN THE FUCKING ARCTIC, there's no problem with loss of Arctic ice?

    Did you mean this argument seriously, or are you just another Koch Brothers troll?

    --
    I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
  8. Re:Bullshit. Ask "The Polar Ocean Challenge" by dwywit · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well, that settles it. Nothing to worry about, folks. Just keep consuming those finite resources and let your grandchildren worry about any problems.

    --
    They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
  9. Re:Bullshit. Ask "The Polar Ocean Challenge" by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Funny

    Didn't you get the memo? The resources aren't finite, they're infinite. Oil grows back because it's not fossil fuel. Silly evolutionists, how could it be fossil fuel, the Earth is only 6000 years old!

    Well DUH!

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  10. Re:Bullshit. Ask "The Polar Ocean Challenge" by Mr0bvious · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So, it's not "well understood", oh great, let's just ignore it then and say there's no problem hey?

    I can think of a lot of "problems" that are not well understood. They are problems all the same.

    --
    Never happened. True story.
  11. Oh geesh by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 3, Informative

    The Ice level in the arctic is a symptom, not the cause. Otherwise, is this story from the Onion or something?

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    1. Re:Oh geesh by gumpish · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Ice reflects substantially more infrared energy back into space than seawater. Lowering the Earth's albedo will MAKE melting ice caps a cause of warming.

  12. The plan is to pull water to the surface. by robbak · · Score: 4, Informative

    Normally, the sea ice freezes over the water, capping it off and insulating it. Heat soaks only slowly through the ice, cooling the water under the ice and freezing it, slowly.

    Instead, if we pump seawater up and drop it on the top of the ice, it will freeze quickly. So we can increase the thickness of the ice, so it will, hopefully, last longer.

    If done on a large scale, however, it will warm the arctic winter, as heat is added to the system in the form of liquid water to be frozen, water surface that is 0 degrees C instead of solid ice at maybe -20 degrees C. The increased ice is probably a net positive for the artctic, but I dislike all these goengineering kludges.

    --
    Prediction for end of Universe #42: Fencepost error in Quantum_bogosort.cpp
  13. Re:Can anyone explain how this could even work? by z3alot · · Score: 2

    Arctic ice affects Y by the albedo effect.

    It sucks because warming removes arctic ice, which no longer reflects sunlight, which causes more warming. The summary suggests that when (in the future) arctic ice goes away completely during the summer, this will be very bad.

  14. Re:Bullshit. Ask "The Polar Ocean Challenge" by dbIII · · Score: 2

    An interesting thing is that in 1931 due to so much ice the Wilkins expedition couldn't even get into the Arctic.
    In a submarine.

    That was an especially cold year and a submarine that couldn't go very deep, but still that shows a massive difference.

  15. Re:This by Maritz · · Score: 2

    As a species we should be attempting to salvage as much of the biosphere as possible. Sadly, most of us are useless, dumb, myopic dickheads with our heads in the fucking sand. I'm not one, but I guess you are.

    --
    I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
  16. Re:Bullshit. Ask "The Polar Ocean Challenge" by Maritz · · Score: 2

    I bet you think snow disproves climate change. That's really no less dumb than what you just came out with.

    --
    I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
  17. Re:Glaciers used to cover all of New England by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    I sometimes read about how American Christians refuse to accept evolution theory in class rooms and even teach creation next to evolution.

    In my country they do no longer teach evolution and even teach an alternative history that skips all former empires and let it start with Mohamed. I even hear non Muslim kids recite the Koran. Why is that? Because our schools are now teaching Islam and have changed the content of the lessons in such a way that no Imam will be offended. This is in a traditional Catholic country and most kids learn that Jesus was just a prophet who never died on the cross.
     
    Even in universities lessons are interrupted by an angry mob of Islamists. The result is that Islamic students don't have to get study points in evolution, even not when they are learning to become a doctor.
    And when everyone who criticizes this situation is immediately put away as an Islamophobe and is seen as the cause of all world problems you understand you can no longer change the situation. And then you have come to the conclusion that you no longer feel home in your own country. And you look at the 'free' world where you see politicians but also the non redneck people make the same mistake. They underestimate the power of Islam. Victimhood has been invented and perfected by Muslims.
     
    Just last week a Mosque that sponsored IS in the name of charity and sold drugs and stolen goods to fund their 'charity' was closed. Although about 50 young boys and about 70 young girls of their community went to the caliphate in Syria and Iraq, they still play the victim card. The muslims told they were victims of racists. Racists put the drugs and stolen goods in their mosque and they are now acting like the poor people who were attacked by an angry mob and have to pray outside on the streets in the cold and rain. And of course weak people claim that the 'white man' should be ashamed to throw those 'poor Muslims' on the streets, completely ignoring the fact that they laundered over 30 million euro in 2016 alone. That's not what I call poverty...

    But yeah, mod everyone down, say everyone lies, say that Islam is not bad, say that it is in every ones interest to also convert to Islam, but don't be surprised when a fascist politician will be chosen and when the EU falls apart in the next 10 years.

  18. Re:Al Gore predicted... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Cool story, bro. Here's what he actually said:

    Last September 21 (2007), as the Northern Hemisphere tilted away from the sun, scientists reported with unprecedented distress that the North Polar ice cap is "falling off a cliff." One study estimated that it could be completely gone during summer in less than 22 years. Another new study, to be presented by U.S. Navy researchers later this week, warns it could happen in as little as 7 years.

    So Al Gore didn't predict anything, he cited an actual researcher.

    The Navy researcher that leads this "new study" team that the former vice president alludes to is Wieslaw Maslowski at the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey, California. The team's research was funded by the Department of Energy (DOE), the Office of Naval Research (ONR), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

    Maslowski also did not say "by 2013" in his original research in 2007 or when it was republished in 2009. This grandstanding about sea ice and Gore, for whatever reason, is a huge and egregious deception. The actual prediction from Maslowski's 2009 publication is, "Autumn could become near ice free between 2011 and 2016."

    And not even the researcher who did make a prediction said exactly what you claim they said.

    However, now that we have actual measurements for 2011-2016, we can see that the lowest autumn sea ice extent for the period in question was 3.389 million km^2 (Sep 16 2012). That's the lowest on record and less than half as much as the same day in 1979, but arguably still too high to call it "near ice free". So Maslowski's worst-case prediction didn't come true, and now you can be less wrong on the internet.

  19. Re:Two Problems by jeff4747 · · Score: 2

    1) Thermodynamics wins - to freeze the arctic they will actually generate more heat increasing overall heating of the planet.

    Only if you think the Earth is a closed system. It is not.

    The point to having more ice coverage is to reflect more light back into space. Thus taking the energy contained within that light away from Earth.

    2) The arctic has thawed before. This is a cycle.

    The fact that something has happened before does not make it a cycle. And the fact that it is happening again does not mean it is part of a natural cycle.

    In the past, Earth was completely covered in ice. It was also completely ice free. Humans will find it difficult to survive in anywhere near our current population in either of those extremes.

  20. Evidence by Tenebrousedge · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Models aren't evidence for or against a theory. The evidence for AGW is essentially that CO2 is a greenhouse gas, and that it exists in the upper atmosphere, and that we are increasing the concentration of it in the atmosphere. Very basic physical laws dictate that this will cause warming. You can prove the greenhouse gas part in your basement, to measure the upper atmosphere I'd imagine you'd need a sounding rocket. Your basement will also allow you to demonstrate a substantial positive feedback effect with water vapor. So, easily verified properties of atmospheric gases tell us that AGW must be occurring.

    "But wait," you say, "who says that the real world has to match what happens in the laboratory? What if there's some bigger negative feedback loop that we don't know about?" This is a cogent objection. As it happens, that is exactly what we've been looking for (at least, since Keeling). We haven't found one, and we've ruled out all known atmospheric phenomena. Some misunderstood part of the water cycle was probably all that could have saved us; the H2O feedback effect is quite strong. As you can see, the amount of water that can be dissolved in air has a really nasty exponential curve to it, as anyone from the South can doubtless attest.

    The science of AGW really is settled. What exactly will happen is where the models come in, and a large part of the modeled uncertainty is because they're giving projections which take into account human responses to climate change. I'm not suggesting that you take any particular action about this, but you may rely on the science being correct, so if your personal view is that that would be a situation requiring action, I would imagine that you would want to be thinking about what to do.

    --
    Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
  21. Holocene Optimum by Tenebrousedge · · Score: 2

    The rate is going to be unpleasant, but more certain than that is difficult to tell, because among other things it will depend on what we do about it.

    "E-Wa" has fascinating geography, and I do recommend to the interested reader the book "Roadside Geology of Washington". The Cascades are of course very active volcanically, and the scars from the Missoula Floods are simply epic. You are correct that the absence of ice where there was ice previously indicates an upward trend over that time period. However, prior to the Industrial Era, we were actually on a slight cooling trend. The Holocene climatic optimum was 5000-9000 years ago. As I recall, we have yet to reach similar global temperature levels, but our timeframe for doing so assuming current emissions levels is on the order of 1-2 centuries.

    I believe the largest volcanic outgassing in geologic history would be the creation of the Large Igneous Province called the Deccan Traps. As I recall (but I would be happy to find the relevant scientific papers and re-do the calculations for you) human CO2 output to date was about three orders of magnitude smaller than the total figure for the Deccan Traps. Humans are unlikely to be able to emit 1000x more CO2 than we already have on any timescale, however, the flip side of that is that if we continued at this rate we would exceed the largest volcanic outgassings in the history of the Earth in some few thousands of years, where the natural timeframe of those events was several million years. On another scale, we're emitting about two Pinatubo-sized eruptions' worth of CO2 per day, or about one Yellowstone-sized supereruption per year (Gerlach 2011). The IPCC reports give some good estimates about the exact rate of warming, but the rate of CO2 increase far exceeds that of any prior historical event. Since we know that there is a causal link between CO2 increases and global temperature increases, this implies (but does not in any sense prove) that the warming rate may also end up being historically unprecedented. However, if you think that there's some sort of uncertainty about the outcome of this, to where you don't have to be worried, you're probably going to want to rethink that.

    --
    Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
  22. This article has everything! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    This article has everything!

    In case you've been under a rock for the past 20 years

    Condescension.

    the Arctic is melting super fast

    Alarmist bullshit.

    Certain *ahem* governments are dragging their feet doing anything about it

    Anti-American political bias.

    the planet could be in for a spectacular meltdown within the next 20 years

    More alarmist bullshit.

    But a clever bunch of scientists

    The valiant, altruistic and truly honest heroes of the new religion of science.
    (I'm all for scientific discovery, but not fellating people for it)

    a plan to re-freeze the Arctic

    Mad scientist bullshit.

    wind-powered pumps that will bring water to the surface, allowing it to freeze. This new layer of ice could last well into the summer

    What could possibly go wrong?

    scientists think summer Arctic ice could be gone by 2030

    My money is on that statement being added to this list.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dates_predicted_for_apocalyptic_events

    plan has a $500 billion price tag

    Golly gee, that's a lot. Who's getting it?

    plan has a $500 billion price tag, but that's pocket change

    Ah yes, of course, of course, so it's these people then?
    http://theglobalelite.org/globalists/

    You can read more about the study via The Guardian.

    My most trusted source for totally not fake news!