Controversial Plan To Re-Freeze The Artic

A UK-based startup called Real Ice has developed a plan to artificially thicken Arctic sea ice in an attempt to combat the effects of climate change. Their method involves:

1. Using underwater drones powered by green hydrogen to drill holes in the ice from below.
2. Pumping seawater onto the surface of existing ice.
3. Allowing the water to freeze naturally in the cold Arctic temperatures, creating additional layers of ice.

Initial tests conducted in Cambridge Bay, Canada, have shown promising results, with the formation of about four inches of new ice.

Real Ice's ultimate aim is to thicken ice over more than 386,000 square miles of the Arctic—an area more than twice the size of California3. While the company and some scientists see this as a potential last-ditch effort to preserve the vanishing Arctic ecosystem, the plan has sparked significant debate and criticism within the scientific community. Critics argue that the method is:

• Unproven at scale
• Ecologically risky
• A potential distraction from addressing the root cause of climate change: fossil fuel emissions

Despite the controversy, Real Ice plans to continue testing and development, with the goal of conducting full-scale re-icing trials in an Arctic bay by 2027