Deep in the Canadian Arcticscientists and entrepreneurs are “creating” sub-zero temperatures, tapping winds and blizzards to blow holes in the sea ice to pump seawater from below and freeze it at the surface.

CNN presents the team’s work, which it has recommended start-up Real Ice at Cambridge Bay, a tiny seaside village in Nunavut.

OR start-up try to prove that it can grow and restore Arctic sea ice.

Specifically, its plan is to thicken ice over more than 386,000 square miles of the Arctic — twice the size of California — with the goal of slowing or even reversing summer ice loss and, in doing so, preventing melting caused by the climate crisis.

It is one bold design and one of several controversial geoengineering proposals to save the planet’s vulnerable polar regions that range from installing a giant underwater “curtain” to protect ice sheets, to sprinkling tiny glass beads to reflect sunlight.

Some scientists and Arctic experts have criticized Real Ice’s methods as unproven at scale, ecologically dangerous and a distraction from addressing the root cause of climate change: fossil fuels.

However, the company says its project is inspired by natural processes and offers a last chance to protect an ecosystem that is disappearing as the world fails to act quickly on climate change.

THE Arctic ice sea ​​level is shrinking as humans continue to warm the world by burning fossil fuels. Since the mid-1980s, the amount of thick, perennial ice has shrunk by 95%. The ice that remains is young and thin. Some scientists predict that the Arctic could experience an ice-free summer as early as the 2030s.

Sea ice loss is a global problem. Its bright white surface reflects the sun’s energy back into space, cooling the planet. When it melts, the darker ocean exposed below is able to absorb more of the sun’s rays. It’s a disaster loop — global warming melts ice, and melting ice adds to global warming.

Technology may help refreeze the Arctic

Real Ice’s plan to protect this frozen ocean landscape involves inserting electric, underwater pumps beneath the sea ice to pump seawater to the surface. The water freezes as it pools on the ice like a huge puddle, creating an extra layer of ice.

The process also removes snow from the top of the ice, stripping it of an insulating layer and triggering additional growth on the underside of the sea ice, said Andrea Ceccolini, co-CEO of Real Ice.

The startup has been conducting field trials in the Arctic for nearly two years. The first ones were in Alaska last year, mainly to check that the equipment worked and could withstand the bitter cold.

The team began testing in Cambridge Bay in Canada in January this year. They covered about 44,000 square feet of ice and added an average of 20 inches of extra thickness between January and May compared to the control area, Ceccolini said.

A new round of tests in Cambridge Bay began in November and have covered 430,000 square feet so far. In the first 10 days of the test, the ice was already 4 inches thicker in the spots they were testing, Ceccolini said.

They will return in the new year and again in May to measure how much ice has formed. Based on past results, they expect about 16 to 31 inches of ice growth, Ceccolini said.

“It’s early days,” said Shaun Fitzgerald, director of the Center for Climate Repair at the University of Cambridge, which is working with Real Ice on the tests. But early results were encouraging, he told CNN. “I’m optimistic, but we need more experiments and more data.”

The ultimate plan is to automate the process using underwater drones, each about 6.5 feet long and powered by green hydrogen. These will melt holes in the ice below using heated drill bits.

Ceccolini estimates that about 500,000 drones will be used at full scale and deployed carefully to avoid animal migration paths or shipping lanes, he said.

If all goes according to plan, he expects they can grow within 8-10 years.

Real Ice is mostly self-funded with some money from investors. Eventually, they see a global fund or governments stepping in to pay. They also envision the sale of “freezing credits,” where polluters pay to refreeze the ice in order to “offset” their own pollution.

“Extremely Questionable”

The science is sound, said Jennifer Francis, senior scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center, “the ice will become measurably thicker and brighter in local areas surrounding the pumps.” But a big question, he told CNN, is whether enough sea ice can grow long enough to make a difference in the climate crisis. “I have serious doubts,” he said.

The scalability of Real Ice’s solution is “highly questionable,” said Liz Bagshaw, associate professor in polar environmental change at the University of Bristol. He also warned of possible wide-scale ecological impacts in a vulnerable region. “Such interventions are morally dubious at best, and morally irresponsible at worst,” he told CNN.

Dozens of scientists raised concerns in a recent report about polar geoengineering projects, including ice thickening. They warned of “the potential for serious unforeseen consequences,” including the environmental impact of an “unprecedented level of human presence” in the Arctic.

Ceccolnini doesn’t deny that the project could cause changes in the marine environment – ​​for example, they’re looking at algae growth that can be affected by ice thickness – but he believes the overall effects will be limited.

The future of the project depends on whether they can demonstrate that the ice thickening is effective and does not create significant side effects, he said.

“Everything we do has an impact,” Ceccolini said. “The problem is that there is a much more dramatic impact in letting things continue like this.”