U.K. researchers use drills and seawater to thicken Arctic ice

In the depths of a Nunavut winter, parka-clad scientists are drilling holes in the ice near Cambridge Bay, looking for seawater.

It might sound like a peculiar thing to do in the Arctic Ocean, but it's all in the name of combating the effects of climate change.

Using hydrogen-powered technology, the scientists from U.K. firm Real Ice spent a weeklast January pumping the water out, and flooding the frozen ocean surface on top. They were testing technology that they hope could be used across the entire Arctic region.

"This seawater comes in contact with the cold air... and it freezes very quickly adding an extra layer of thick ice," explainedReal Ice co-CEO Andrea Ceccolini.

Ceccolini says that method proved successful in a football field-sized area a few kilometres from Cambridge Bay, where the Canadian High Arctic Research Station is based.

"In our research area, we had a growth of up to 50 centimetres [in thickness]" by May this year,saidCian Sherwan,also a co-CEO of Real Ice.

Eventually, the scientistshope to cover most of the Arctic Ocean, and have the project be mostly locally owned and operated.

The Arctic Ocean spansan area of approximately 14 million square kilometres, and covering theregion is quite themission.Ceccolini isn't fazed.

"The climate issue is big and it needs big bold solutions," he said.

"If we manage to cover one million square kilometreseach year in the Arctic [over several years], we believe we can preserve the current sea ice and even start to restore it where it was in the 1980s."

To scale up the project, they are looking at automated underwater drones to find areas to drill a hole.

Ceccolini says the temperatures under the ice are easier, and more reliable, to deal with than above the surface.

Ceccolini says the Real Ice team willbe consulting with local communities, and biologists, before carrying out theirexperiments.They'll also be operating away from settlements, shipping routes, or fragile wildlife areas. Buton the latter, he saysthere can be positive impacts too.

Pamela Nakashook sees those ecological benefits. As the Cambridge Bay guide for the expedition team, she was initially sceptical.But seeing the results with her own eyes convinced her.

Nakashook thinks back to an incident years ago, when a group of caribou fell through thin ice.

"The caribou rely on the ocean to cross and migrate from the mainland to Victoria Island and back. So if the ice can get thicker, it would be very helpful for the caribou," she said.

Real Ice estimates the cost to cover the entire Arctic Ocean would be about $10 billion.

That, Andrea Ceccolini says, is "tiny" in comparison to the cost of climate change.

Last winter's experiments were funded by Polar Knowledge Canada and other organizations. It's not clear who would pay for a larger, $10-billion project.

'Seems impossible to me'

The Real Ice project is being met with scepticism from some other sea-ice researcherswho say it's just not feasible.

"It just seems impossible to me," saidJulienne Stroeve, a polar climate scientistfrom the University of Manitoba.

And though it might prove helpful for some species if it works Stroeve says it could have negative consequences for others.

"By pumping seawater on top of the ice, you're destroying the overlying snowpack. That's an issue for species like ring seals which actually dig their dens on top of that ice," shesaid.

Snow also blocks the amount of light that can get throughso removing it, Stroevesays, can lead to algae blooms.

Walt Meier, from the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center, doesn't want to dismiss new innovations, but he wonders whether the benefits of the project wouldeven endure.

"It's going to last maybe one or two years. The ice is going to melt and it's going to drift into the Atlantic Ocean and then it's gone," Meiersaid.

BothMeier and Stroeveagree, however, that the technology could be usefulon a smaller scale, like for strengthening ice roads.

They also agree that the estimated $10 billion cost for the project would bemoney betterspent on curbing emissions, rather than trying to cover the ocean with more ice.

Ceccoliniagrees that curbing emissions is essential, but says the issue is urgent and curbing emissions involves a lot of political and industrial hurdles.

"That solution is so far away," he said.

With the first trial complete, Real Ice is planning another round of tests in Cambridge Bay this winter, before deciding how to expand across the wider Arctic.