Are polar glaciers saved? Experts build 'real ice maker' and are currently experimenting in the Arctic Circle

Last year, whether it was the distant Antarctica or Greenland in the Arctic, the terrestrial glaciers ushered in a major melting event, especially in Greenland in the Arctic, the melting rate is getting faster and faster. Previous satellite photos show that in the summer, Greenland's glaciers are melting. Countless small ponds will appear on top of the ice sheet, indicating that many glaciers have naturally melted into water.

From the perspective of climate, the existence of glaciers in the Arctic and Antarctic is extremely significant, controlling global warming and regulating the global climate. However, in recent years, the warming of the Arctic region and the melting of glaciers have weakened the control of the polar vortex, causing super cold air to repeatedly hit northern latitude countries, creating climate disasters for humans, such as the extreme low temperature in the United States in 2020.

Some scientists pessimistically predict that Antarctic glaciers may still exist for a long time, but Arctic glaciers may not last for the 21st century. By the end of the 21st century, Greenland in the Arctic will be a green land. Although the living area of ​​Greenland has increased, the earth is It's getting hot, and summer will be a "sea of ​​fire" in the equatorial regions and lower latitudes.

In order to save the Arctic and Antarctic glaciers, scientists have used their smart brains to come up with a variety of whimsical solutions, but many died before they were released. In May 2021, scientists from Bangor University in the United Kingdom announced a A "radical plan", saying they have created an extremely simple device that could well save glaciers in the Arctic and Antarctic.

What kind of device is this? Let's take a look. From the design drawing, the device has almost no scientific difficulty, just like a simple geo-finding instrument, it has no sense of technology, but according to scientists at Bangor University, it can use the wind's Power to gain energy, refreeze and fortify arctic glaciers.

The device, called a "real ice maker", was designed by a group of young scientists at Bangor University. The design principle is to first obtain electricity from wind energy, which is the most cheap energy source in the Arctic and Antarctic regions where nothing can grow. , and then use electricity to drive a turbine to pump water to the surface of the glacier to freeze, thickening the thickness of the glacier.

The design of the "real ice maker" is very simple. The upper part is a horizontally moving rotor that uses wind to turn the blades to provide electrical support. It is pumped to the surface, and then condensed into ice at a low temperature of minus fifty degrees Celsius, forming a new layer of ice.

In this way, the thickness of the polar glaciers can be thickened, thereby offsetting the loss of the glaciers. Some people may be more confused, isn't the sea salty? How can it freeze? In fact, when the seawater temperature is as low as minus 50℃, it will freeze quickly, but it is lower than the freezing point of fresh water. The freezing point of ordinary fresh water is 0℃, while the freezing point of seawater is generally about minus 20℃.

Now, the "real ice machine" prototype has been sent to the Arctic Circle in northern Canada for experiments, and is proving how strong its ice-making ability is? Although it has been theoretically confirmed that this "real ice maker" has a very strong ice making ability, simple structure, easy transportation, and can quickly form new ice layers, field tests are more important.

The prototype doesn't look much taller than a human, but it's not a standard size, but a scaled-down version of the standard size, which will feature a 10-meter-wide turbine. As you can see, the "real ice maker" is simple in structure, small in size and light in weight, which means it is inexpensive and very convenient to transport.

If tens of thousands of such "real ice machines" are installed on the Arctic glaciers to continuously create new layers of ice 24 hours a day, will the Arctic and Antarctic glaciers be saved? It's not quite sure yet, it mainly depends on whether the melting speed of the glaciers is equal to the ice making speed of the ice machine. You must know that this summer, the Arctic glaciers are melting at an alarming rate.

In order to prevent the melting of glaciers in the Antarctic and South Pole, in July 2019, a German scientist proposed the idea of ​​​​with a big brain, installing 10,000 wind turbines in Antarctica, and then installing 10,000 super "snow machines" along the coast of Antarctica , turning seawater into snowflakes and spraying them on the glacier to reinforce the glacier. The idea exploded all over the world in an instant, and people were talking about it.

To know how much it will cost, it is estimated that the basic unit is trillions of dollars. A large wind turbine costs millions of dollars, and a super "snow maker" costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, plus Expensive shipping costs, installation costs, maintenance costs, even a country cannot afford such a large cost.

In August 2019, a scientific team in Indonesia proposed another plan to save polar glaciers, creating a "submarine" that can make ice from the ocean, first diving under the surface to fill the ocean, and then creating a 25-meter-wide and 5-meter-thick submarine. Hexagonal large ice cubes, and then splicing countless ice cubes into "artificial glaciers".

But there are still many people who have raised various questions. Is this "submarine" energy-saving and environmentally friendly? What does it use as energy? If it continues to use traditional energy sources, then it emits a lot of greenhouse gases. What's the point? No less than "covering the ears and stealing the bell". Now, the "real ice maker" is being tested, and hopefully it will work well.