Challenge 5:
Unlock ocean-based solutions to climate change

Enhance understanding of the ocean-climate nexus and generate knowledge and solutions to mitigate, adapt and build resilience to the effects of climate change across all geographies and at all scales, and to improve services including predictions for the ocean, climate and weather.

The warming of the Arctic is melting its thick, highly reflective multi-year sea ice cap. Most of the ice cap is now seasonal, thin and much less reflective; this allows summer sunlight to be absorbed by the ocean, further warming it and leading to more melting. To reverse this trend, restoration of Arctic ice consistency is a priority to be pursued through effective, practical and sustainable solutions. Among the ideas being explored is pumping ocean water over the surface of the ice during the winter months; the freezing of this water could add a 10-20 cm layer, thickening the sea ice and thus increasing albedo, making it more likely to last through the summer months.