A process has started to connect scientists, engineers, writers, economists and politicians with the indigenous rightsholders in Greenland to discuss active conservation of the Greenland ice sheet. In their meetings in Reykjavik they have agreed that research on topic is urgently needed.

– Greenland can lead the world forward in managing
global sea level and we are doing our best in finding a sustainable design for a
seabed anchored curtain that would enable maintaining valued local fishing and
tourism livelihoods as well as the traditional way of life, says research professor
John Moore of the Arctic Centre, University of Lapland. Moore is leading the
international efforts to prevent ice sheet collapse by seabed anchored
curtains.

 – At its core, this project is about
sustainability and local acceptability of ice sheet conservation. A curtain must,
for instance, maintain the rich food web in the fjord, adds researcher Ilona
Mettiäinen of the Arctic Centre of the University of Lapland. She has spent a lot of
the past year in Greenland, interviewing and discussing with locals and
representatives of key organizations.

– Lessons from Greenland
can be applied to the even bigger sea level problems in Antarctica, Moore
says. 

The UArctic Frederik Paulsen High Level Seminar
was organized under the auspices of the University of the Arctic in Reykjavik in
mid-October as a pre-event to the Arctic Circle Assembly to facilitate discussions
with a number of stakeholders and rightsholders. 

–
These discussions were a magnificent step forward, says Moore. The next steps
include setting up an advisory committee to represent both local and international
expertise and interests, and identify gaps in knowledge and focus areas of intensive
research.

Globally respected engineering companies, such as Arup
and Aker Solutions that have a solid and proven track record of solving the most
difficult of challenges are also involved.

– This a great
opportunity to challenge our brightest heads, in close collaboration with leading
scientists in the field, with all agreed on the approach of “do no harm” says Aker’s
Marianne Hagen, company’s vice president and head of sustainability. Limiting inflow
of warm water, while allowing outflow of nutrient rich waters from the glacier will
be complex and its feasibility needs detailed understanding of the nutrient flow and
fish system needs – including insights from local fishers who have long and deep
knowledge of the fjord ice/ system, and from scientific data collected in the
waters.

Traditional hunters and fishers can benefit from cooler
fjord waters stabilizing and thickening sea ice, and tourism gains an attraction in
“seeing” active conservation although it is invisible from the surface, while
icebergs may become larger. 

Monetizing the icesheets as
a valued global resource similar to tropical rainforests requires specific new
mechanisms to be developed for compensating Greenland for their guardianship of
their ice sheet for the global benefit.

"25.10.

Schematic of a sea bed anchored curtain buoyantly floating from a
foundation on the sea floor.

More information:

Research Professor
John Moore, Arctic Centre, University of Lapland, john.moore@ulapland.fi ;
john.moore.bnu@gmail.com, +358 400 194 850

Researcher Ilona
Mettiäinen, Arctic Centre, University of Lapland ilona.mettiainen@ulapland.fi, +358
40 484 4273

 

Background: Ice sheet collapse and sea level
curtains
 
Sea level rise is one the most important impacts of climate warming. It
is also one the hardest to address because of the huge energy already absorbed by
the oceans and the very long timescales needed to cool them. This means that sea
level rise will continue for centuries after greenhouse gas concentrations stop
rising. The warm oceans are largely responsible for destabilizing the vulnerable
West Antarctic ice sheet, and also about half the ice loss from the Greenland ice
sheet. Rapid icesheet collapse would produce rates of global sea level rise
unprecedented in human history. Given the slow and limited response of sea level to
emissions control, we need to look at alternative methods of stabilizing the ice
sheets. The Greenland ice sheet is a key contributor to sea level rise and the
Greenlandic people are the guardians of the ice sheet, which is also a global good
in terms of climate change and important for maintaining the current global sea
level. The iconic Sermeq Kujalleq (Jakobshavn glacier) is the largest contributor of
ice bergs and sea level rise in the northern hemisphere. Ilulissat, the 3rd largest
town in Greenland, benefits from the rich fishing associated with the glacier melt,
and thousands of tourists are attracted to see the enormous icebergs near the
town. 
Sermeq Kujalleq melt is driven
by warm, salty waters, which lie at depths of a few hundred metres in the Atlantic
Ocean. A natural step of sill at the mouth of the fjord acts to block most of the
warm waters reaching the glacier, but as the Atlantic has warmed, melting has
increased and the glacier has retreated. Raising the height of the step blocks some
warm water, and lowers melting. A flexible buoyant curtain would be invisible from
the surface, easily maintained, monitored and adjusted by local people, providing
quality employment.