Increasing humidity around glaciers and ice sheets

Ice sheets and glaciers

Up to 50% of the world’s glaciers are set to disappear this century, with many more at risk if emission reduction targets are not met (Rounce et al. 2023).

Engineer Paul Klinkman has suggested increasing the water content around glaciers and ice sheets to increase precipitation over them (see Klinkman Solar Design, U2). Although it is unsure how this would work exactly, Klinkman suggested constructing ‘fog-creating ponds’ that would increase the moisture content of the air. Klinkman has also suggested increasing moisture content by using a ‘water vapour chimney’ (See Klinkman Solar Design H14). Alternatively the increased warmth associated with open water will increase ablation and calving rates in Greenland. This has been proposed as a likely mechanism for variations in terminus position. Historical mass loss is correlated with heat flow from surrounding seas (Yue et al. 2021; Moore et al. 2019)

Technological Readiness Level (TRL)

Low 1

Technological Readiness Level (TRL)

A technology with a TRL of 1-3: TRL 1 – Basic; TRL 2 – Concept formulated; TRL 3 – Experimental proof of concept

Scalability

Low 1

This would likely only be effective near the coast.

Scalability

Physically unable to scale; sub-linear/logarithmic efficiency of scalability

Timeliness for near-future effects

Low 1

Timeliness for near-future effects

Implemented too late to make a significant difference

Northern + Arctic potential

Low 1

Northern + Arctic potential

No noticeable extra positive effect beyond the global average; technology is unsuited to the Arctic

Global potential

Low 1

Global potential

Insignificant to be detected at a global scale

Cost - benefit

Unknown 0

Environmental risks

Low 3

Environmental risks

Very limited, site-specific effects restricted to the solution deployment location only

Community impacts

Neutral 2

Community impacts

Unnoticeable or negligible positive or negative effects

Ease of reversibility

Easy 3

Ease of reversibility

Easily reversible naturally

Risk of termination shock

Low 3

Risk of termination shock

Low or insignificant termination shock or damage

Legality/governance

High 3

Legality/governance

Currently legal to deploy, with governance structures in place to facilitate it and/or financial incentives to develop it

Scientific/media attention

Low 1

Although the idea surfaced several times in the Geoengineering Google Group, it seems to not have been picked up.

Scientific/media attention

Very low attention from individuals and/or abandoned ideas; low media attention; no commercial interest.

References

Klinkman Solar Designs. n.d. U2. Fog and nearby mountains. https://klinkmansolar.com/knightfog.htm#U2 [Accessed 8 July 2024]

Klinkman Solar Designs. n.d. H14. Water vapor can deliver extra updraft power. https://klinkmansolar.com/kchimney.htm#H14 [Accessed 8 July 2024]

Moore, J.C., Yue, C., Zhao, L., Guo, X., Watanabe, S., Ji, D. 2019 Greenland ice sheet response to stratospheric aerosol injection geoengineering. Earth's Future, 7 https://doi.org/10.1029

Yue, C, L. Steffensen Schmidt, L. Zhao, M. Wolovick, J.C. Moore 2021 Vatnajökull mass loss under solar geoengineering due to the North Atlantic meridional overturning circulation Earth’s Future 9. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021EF002052

Related ideas

River Ölfusá just North of Selfoss, South Iceland

Oceans & marine

River Liming

The pH of water is lowered when it takes up atmospheric carbon. Given that the Earth’s oceans serve as a major carbon sink, there is increasing interest in the possibility to artificially increase the alkalinity of water to restore pH to previous levels, and/or increase carbon uptake potential.

Nuclear icebreaker "Taymyr" operating in sea ice North of Dickson, Taymyr, Russia

Sea ice & icebergs

Sea ice breakup in winter

Sea ice can be an effective insulator between colder winter air and the warmer ocean below, thereby reducing the potential dissipation of heat into space.

Inuit hunter traveling by snow scooter on melting sea ice, Pond Inlet, Canada

Sea ice & icebergs

Sea ice albedo modification

Arctic sea ice extent has rapidly decreased over the last few decades, with most multi-year ice disappearing altogether. This has already had major effects on local communities and ecosystems. The disappearance of the relatively reflective sea ice also leads to a dramatic decrease of albedo in the Arctic and subsequent high energy uptakes by the darker water during the Arctic summers.

Industry

Polar chimneys

Some have suggested modifying incoming and outgoing radiation budgets in the Arctic to mitigate the warming in the region.

Permafrost patterns of tundra soil, Northeast Greenland National Park

Land-based measures

Stabilizing permafrost by covering it

Large areas of the Northern and Arctic regions consist of permafrost, almost permanently frozen soil. As global temperatures rise, these permafrost areas are thawing at an ever faster rate. This thawing leads to massive amounts of GHGs being released into the atmosphere, as carbon stored in the permafrost is converted into methane by bacteria. Because methane is a very potent GHG, the thawing of the permafrost is considered a major tipping point in the climatic system. Permafrost preservation is of the utmost importance because Arctic terrestrial regions alone hold up to 1500 Pg C (Schuur et al. 2015), and although there is large uncertainty about the total amount of emissions from permafrost (Miner et al. 2022), especially when it comes to nonlinear abrupt thawing (Turetsky et al. 2020), significant amounts of carbon release is to be expected as the Northern regions warm.

Nickel Smelters, Norilsk, Siberia, Russia

Industry

Carbon capture and storage

Both emission reductions and CDR measures that actively reduce carbon dioxide are essential to reduce the amount of GHGs in the atmosphere and mitigate the effects of climate change. However, some carbon emissions, especially in the industrial and energy sectors, will be difficult to fully decarbonise.

Sea ice melting, North of Dickson, Taymyr, Russia

Sea ice & icebergs

Pykrete usage

Clouds over Setesdalsheia, Norway, October 2013

Atmosphere / solar radiation

Cirrus cloud thinning

Cirrus clouds are high altitude ice clouds. They influence the Earth’s radiation budget as they reflect both incoming and outgoing radiation. However, they ultimately have a warming effect as they are more efficient at trapping outgoing longwave radiation (Kärcher 2017).