Wolovick: How Geoengineering Glaciers Could Prevent Catastrophic Melting (IMAGE)

Princeton University

Wolovick: How Geoengineering Glaciers Could Prevent Catastrophic Melting

Caption

Princeton climate researcher Michael Wolovick argues in a Nature Comment that targeted approaches could prevent glaciers from melting, thereby forestalling some of the most expensive effects of global climate change. Ice sheets that spread from continental shelves to the ocean are highly vulnerable to melting near the grounding line, which is the point at which they lift off of the bedrock and start floating on the ocean (purple). Wolovick proposes building an artificial sill -- an underwater wall 3 miles long and 350 feet high -- to block warm water (red) from reaching the glacier.

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Michael Wolovick, Princeton University

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