Evaluating the impacts of localized artificial enhancement of sea ice albedo over Beaufort Gyre towards restoring Arctic Sea Ice

[Geoengineering News]

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165232X2500240X

Authors: Detelina Ivanova, Subarna Bhattacharyya, Anthony Strawa, Steve Zornetzer, Stephanie Olinger, Leslie Field, Alexander Ivanov, Ethan Kusnadi, Jacob Kim

27 August 2025

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coldregions.2025.104657

Highlights

•Localized targeted solutions for climate intervention such as Surface Albedo Modification are viable instrument for Arctic ice restoration

•Albedo enhancement in the Beaufort Gyre cools and thickens the ice cover, aiding melt season survival and building multi-year sea ice.

•The BG SAM intervention can delay the transition to seasonal Arctic sea ice by about 25 years

Abstract

CMIP6 projections show that Arctic could be ice-free by 2050, leading to global climate disruptions like destabilizing polar jets, stronger storms and prolonged droughts. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions alone will not be sufficient to preserve Arctic sea ice, necessitating additional climate restoration efforts. Field et al. (2018) proposed restoring sea ice by artificially enhancing surface sea ice albedo with reflective hollow glass microspheres (HGMs) and their modeling simulations show the potential of this technology in Arctic sea ice recovery. While Arctic-wide application is expensive, localized targeted deployments may be feasible. Here we investigate the impacts and efficacy of regional surface albedo modification (SAM) application in the Beaufort Gyre (BG) on the Arctic sea ice and atmospheric radiation budget. We simulate SAM in the BG region carrying out a ten-member ensemble of 50 years (2000–2050) integrations using a global CESM2 climate model. Our results show that ~50 % albedo enhancement in the BG region reduces absorbed surface radiation by ~5 W/m2 and increases outgoing radiation at the top of the atmosphere by ~4.34 W/m2 during summer, comparable to the global anthropogenic radiative forcing of 4.5 W/m2 in the underlying SSP2–4.5 scenario. These radiation budget changes cool the surface of Arctic annually by 0.78 °C, BG area by 3 °C and thicken the BG area summer sea ice by up to ~1 m. Our findings suggest that targeted SAM could help preserve Arctic sea ice, and delay an ice-free Arctic ocean, offering a viable interim climate intervention.

Source: ScienceDirect