Increasing Reflectivity in Ice Caps

Written by Aanya Deshpande

Absorption of Sunlight

How the Earth reflects the Sun’s rays is a large component in temperature and climate change. Areas that are more densely populated tend to reflect less sunlight, while less populated areas (and have more natural materials) will reflect more. As areas become more and more populated, less sunlight is reflected. As a result, these areas are also warmer than others. Likewise, some types of natural materials will reflect more than others. Planting light-colored plants results in more reflectivity than dark-colored ones, as darker colors absorb more heat.

The reflection of the Sun’s rays also contributes to global warming caused by greenhouse gasses. When an object on Earth absorbs sunlight, it creates energy that is re-radiated into heat. This heat is again re-radiated by greenhouse gasses and clouds to create what is known as the “greenhouse effect.”

Aerosols

Another factor is aerosols, microscopic particles that both reflect and absorb sunlight, depending on factors such as their color. Most aerosols help reflect the Sun’s rays, so why not release more of them to combat global warming?

Though aerosols seem to be an easy solution, research has shown many negative and dangerous side effects to this method. One major error in this method is its major effects on storm tracks, which can help predict the severity and occurrence of storms. While they can weaken storms in the winter, with the weaker winds, they also raise the level of air pollution in certain areas.

Solution

As mentioned before, lighter colors will reflect more sunlight out of the atmosphere. In the past, Arctic ice reflected sunlight much more efficiently, because the caps were larger and less polluted. As pollutants found their way onto Arctic ice, they darkened the surface of them and therefore they could reflect less light. The Arctic Ice Project has a solution to restore them, by adding hollow microspheres made from glass to the ice caps, to stimulate real ice and reflect more sunlight. This method is safe for the environment, unlike other solutions that come with major downsides.

Another solution to increase the amount of light reflected from ice caps is to create more glaciers. In the future, we can use water cannons in the poles to extract water from under the ice caps and shoot the water to freeze already existing glaciers, expanding them. Furthermore, it will increase its reflectivity, and decrease the amount of heat absorbed by the earth.

References

https://www.epa.gov/climatechange-science/causes-climate-change

https://ugc.berkeley.edu/background-content/reflection-absorption-sunlight/#:~:text=The%20pro portion%20of%20incoming%20solar%20radiation%20that%20is%20reflected%20by,Earth%27s %20average%20albedo%20is%200.29.

Written by Aanya Deshpande from MEDILOQUY