The ice mass in Antarctica is melting so fast that it is causing concern, and now a group of scientists at the University of Lapland in Finland has come up with engineering solutions to stop the glaciers from sliding, which continue to flow into the sea and melt.
The scientists take the Pine Island glacier on the Antarctic Peninsula as an example. That glacier now moves about 4 km a year.
At the shore, it loses its hold on land and floats on top of the sea like any other iceberg. The biggest impact will be when this glacial ice sheet melts, and that’s exactly where the scientists want to intervene.
They have put forward various ideas, which are intended to protect the ice and make it more stable, as well as to slow down the advance of the glaciers.
Keep the ice cold
For example, they have thought of pumping water from under the sliding glaciers, but among the ideas are also underwater dams, which should block the path of warmer ocean currents to the ice.
Expensive but necessary
According to the scientists, these measures only need to be taken in limited areas of Antarctica and Greenland in order to have a clear impact.
For example, 90% of all ice that flows out of Antarctica passes through glaciers that are less than 100 km wide, and the same applies to 50% of the glacier mass that flows into the sea in Greenland.
The scientists admit that these projects will be expensive, but they believe they will pay off in comparison to the costs that will inevitably occur on coastlines around the world if nothing is done. Numerous forecasts indicate that the sea level will rise by 0.5-2 meters by the year 2100.
A dam cools the ice
An underwater dam is supposed to keep the ice floating in very cold seas. At the same time, man-made islands and pumping stations are supposed to block the advance of the glaciers.
Problem: Warm currents melt the ice.
Solution: An underwater dam on the ocean floor keeps warm currents away from land and the temperature under the ice drops.
Problem: A sliding glacier flows into the sea without resistance.
Solution: A 300-meter-high, man-made island, built from the ground up, stops the ice and keeps it stable.
Problem: Liquid water under a glacier increases its speed towards the sea.
Solution: Through a borehole in the glacier, water can be pumped up and thus increase the frictional resistance of the glacier against the bedrock.
Warm ocean currents
Underwater dam
Man-made island
An ice shelf
Separation of a glacier and an ice sheet
Glacier
Liquid water
Drill pipe
