The idea of using hollow glass beads to stop sea ice loss was rejected by researchers because it would cause ice melt to accelerate.
A study proposed spraying layers of glass powder, in the form of hollow glass spheres about the thickness of a human hair, over the ice to make it look better.
The amount of sunlight reflected in a part of the world that is seeing some of the worst effects of climate change would be enhanced by this.
Sea ice in the north is melting at a frightening rate. According to simulations, it could be gone in the summer by the year 2050. New research shows why tiny glass beads aren't the answer.
The proposed effort to halt sea-ice loss has the opposite effect of what is intended according to the results of the study. That is bad for Earth's climate and society as a whole.
The model study concluded that a layer of 65 micrometer-wide glass spheres spread about five beads deep could increase the reflectivity of the sea ice.
While the study only looked at thin sea ice with little snow cover, the duo calculated changes in solar energy across eight different sea ice conditions in the northern part of the world. The same thickness and type of glass were modeled by them.
They looked at snow and meltwater coverage, as well as sun at sea level, cloud cover, and how the beads interact with sunlight.
New, thin ice can be made more reflective by layers of micro spheres. The glass beads wouldn't have much effect because thin ice mostly occurs in autumn and winter when there isn't a lot of sun.
Adding glass beads to the sea ice at this time of year would cause it to become more warm and lose ice due to the bright-white, deep snow blanketing it.
"Because hollow glass microspheres absorb some sunlight, spreading them onto sea ice would cause bright surfaces such as snow-covered ice to be darkened," they wrote. Spreading hollow glass microspheres would warm the climate in the north and speed the loss of sea ice.
A thin layer of beads absorb about 10 percent of the energy from the sun's rays, which is enough to warm the northern part of the planet.
It would take hundreds of millions of tons of hollow glass beads spread over sea ice each year to cool the climate in the northern part of the world. Manufacturing and transporting those beads is bound to cause more carbon emissions.
Reducing carbon emissions is what counts and this is not the kind of action that we need. If we're talking about restoring environments, we should focus on restoring forests, marshes, peatlands and seaweed ecosystems that can absorb a lot of carbon dioxide.
We've already lost more than half of the permanent ice in the northern part of the planet.
It's not feasible to use microspheres as a way to restore sea ice in the north. The best bet is for society to reduce the behaviors that contribute to climate change, while science explores ways to mitigate global warming.
Fortunately, we already know how to do that, and the results are a much safer bet than trying to engineer the climate.
It's a good idea to make changes to heat absorbing built environments by lightening rooftops and greening cities.
The study was published in a magazine.
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