Brave researchers have decided to save the world by pumping seawater onto ice sheets in the depths of winter. They are struggling through -30C windy conditions somewhere off the top end of Canada. Their plan is to thicken the ice so it will survive longer in summer, thus presumably raising the albedo of Earth.

For some reason the dedicated team at the BBC don't mention what energy source drives the pump. I wonder where that cord goes?

Saving the Ice!
© joannenova.co.au
Could the cord go to a diesel gen, sitting on arctic ice, snipped out of the photo?

If it was a solar panel, we know they would have told us.

Even the BBC calls the plan "insane" — though we sense they mean it in the same way a fourteen year old might describe a diamond encrusted skate park.
Perched on sea-ice off Canada's northern coast, parka-clad scientists watch saltwater pump out over the frozen ocean.

Their goal? To slow global warming.

But a small number of advocates claim their approaches could give the planet a helping hand while humanity cleans up its act.

The ultimate goal of the Arctic experiment is to thicken enough sea-ice to slow or even reverse the melting already seen, says Dr Shaun Fitzgerald, whose team at the University of Cambridge's Centre for Climate Repair is behind the project.
Researchers are apparently excited that they've "already seen the ice thicken by a few tens of centimeters across their small study area." That much eh?

Since arctic sea ice stretches across some 10 to 15 million square kilometers, this could be quite a task.

The experts at the BBC didn't think readers need to know these details, but they do briefly hint that they might need "10 million wind-powered pumps to thicken sea-ice across just a tenth of the Arctic."

Apparently the words "diesel, petrol, fossil fuel" can't be mentioned in a story about solutions of climate change.

Naturally, they have a struggle session about whether this is even a wise experiment given that salty ice might melt faster than normal ice. The worst possible thing of course, is that polluters might get the crazy idea they could burn fuel without tantric guilt.