Scientists warn against proposals to artificially cool polar regions

Proposals to artificially cool the world's polar regions — to stem the impact of global warming — are both expensive, unfeasible and potentially dangerous, according to new scientific research.

- 

The Arctic and Antarctic are warming faster than the rest of the world, which has led some think-tanks and entrepreneurs to propose large-scale technological interventions.

But those ideas — including spraying reflective particles high into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight, erecting sea "curtains" to block warm water from melting glaciers and seeding oceans with nutrients to boost the growth of carbon-absorbing algae — are not workable and could irreversibly damage polar regions, according to a paper published on Sept 9 in the journal Frontiers In Science.

"Some of these ideas have been given a disproportionately high amount of visibility compared with their maturity and their feasibility," said lead author Martin Siegert, a polar scientist and vice-president at the University of Exeter.