Build walls on seafloor to stop glaciers melting, scientists say

[Judi Lynn]

Barriers could halt slide of undersea glaciers and hold back sea level rises predicted to result from global warming

Fiona Harvey
Environment correspondent
Thu 20 Sep 2018 08.20 EDT

Building walls on the seafloor may become the next frontier of climate science, as engineers seek novel ways to hold back the sea level rises predicted to result from global warming.

By erecting barriers of rock and sand, researchers believe they could halt the slide of undersea glaciers as they disintegrate into the deep. It would be a drastic endeavour but could buy some time if climate change takes hold, according to a new paper published on Thursday in the Cryosphere journal, from the European Geosciences Union.

Though the notion may sound far-fetched, the design would be relatively straightforward. “We are imagining very simple structures, simply piles of gravel or sand on the ocean floor,” said Michael Wolovick, a researcher at the department of geosciences at Princeton University in the US who described the plans as “within the order of magnitude of plausible human achievements”.

The structures would not just be aimed at holding back the melting glaciers, but at preventing warmer water from reaching the bases of the glaciers under the sea. New research is now being undertaken by scientists showing how the effects of the warmer water around the world, as the oceans warm, may be the leading cause of underwater melting of the glaciers.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/sep/20/build-walls-on-seafloor-to-stop-glaciers-melting-scientists-say

[SWBTATTReg]

1. I would imagine that if water has been melting from glaciers already over the ...

years, that there would be piles of sentiment on the seafloor already. Why hasn't done the trick of preventing warmer water from melting these glaciers? Besides, I thought the problem was that warmer water was trickling through the cracks on top of these glaciers, allowing the warmer water to percolate through the glacier to its base, causing it to slide more faster and faster downhill and into the waters at its base?

Just curious.

[The_jackalope]

2. ...and make the glaciers pay for them! nt

[Canoe52]

3. +1,000,000

[Rhiannon12866]

4. +1,000,001