Wind turbines could be used to create more sea ice in the Arctic in a massive geoengineering scheme on the scale of the Manhattan Project, scientists have said.
The increasing loss of ice, which reflects much of the heat from the sun, and the release of currently frozen stores of potent greenhouse gas methane threaten to create runaway global warming that would affect the entire planet.
Experts believe the Arctic could be essentially free of sea ice for the first time in about 100,000 years within the next few decades. The famously impassable North West Passage is already open to shipping and fossil fuel companies are considering drilling in the region.
A team of scientists from Arizona State University has now suggested trying to counteract the loss of sea caused by rising temperatures in the Arctic, which has seen increases well above the global average. In Svalbard, winter temperatures have been up to 11C higher than the late 20th century.
