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Pitch

Greenland's glaciers are getting darker. By covering dark areas with fresh snow as a reflective material we can reduce the amount of melt.


Description

Summary

By taking the water out of the vast melt water pools that develop each year and distributing over the dark surfaces using automated mobile snow making machines we can decrease the solar adsorption and subsequent melt that occurs. This can be accomplished at certain times of the year when there is melt water available and the nighttime temperatures are below zero. Over time this could substantially reduce Greenland's glacier melt rate and potentially stabilize them.


Category of the action

Mitigation/Adaptation, Changing public attitudes about climate change


What actions do you propose?

I propose using one or more robotic solar powered automated vehicles that would be able to take the melt water from pools and transport it to areas of dark surface that it would be designed to identify. When the temperature goes below zero it would engage a snow making blower to cover the dark areas with fresh white snow. Potentially large amounts of snow can be made and vast areas of glacier can be restored to pre-industrial levels of reflectiveness. Without some form of action Greenland will continue to get darker and adsorb more solar radiation contributing to sea level rise at an accelerating rate. This action is an adaptation that is achievable, affordable and executed on a local level with no real negative affects but potentially global positive affects. The science of automated robotic systems has developed greatly over the last several years to the point where developing a system for this purpose by a reasonably funded team is a very realistic possibility.


Who will take these actions?

This action could gain support from all areas as the melting of Greenland's glaciers and sea level rise are so widely accepted as a threat to us all. Corporation, Countries and the public at large could support this project through a variety of efforts. Countries have a lot at stake with sea level rise and corporations could support this project as public service and relations. Several high profile companies have recently purchased robotic companies and there are several startups in the works indicating the trend of robotics in future use. Support could come from the robotic industry itself as sea level rise is of such global concern. This project would be a candidate for crowdsourcing from the public as well.


Where will these actions be taken?

These actions will be taken on the western edge of Greenland where most of the melt pools and darkest areas are.


What are other key benefits?

Another key benefit of this action would be the reduction of the melt pools that themselves are problematic in that as they drain to the bottom of the glacier they lubricate the bottom and increase the speed of the glaciers movement.


What are the proposal’s costs?

The cost of this proposal is small when compared to other proposals while the potential benefit is high. A demonstration project could be put together for a very reasonable cost. This project can be scaled to any level that funding would support.


Time line

Depending on the level of support this project could restore the reflectiveness of Greenland to pre-industrial levels in as little as 5 to 15 years. At the 15 to 100 year time frame this project could have the potential to go beyond just stabilizing Greenland's glaciers and begin to rebuild and expand them.


Related proposals


References