Unfortunately, even the lightest and brightest ground covering textiles weigh and cost too much to mitigate melting on a large scale
Geotextiles durable enough to survive storm winds weigh 5 to 10 tonnes per hectare, and cost dollars per M2, un-installed . Deploying them on flat land can triple the materials cost , and securing them on rocky slopes can run up the installed cost by an order of magnitude. One way to constrain the cost of albedo management is research on how to effectively dematerialze it Earth;s hydrosphere has three times the area of its land surface, and besides being three orders of magnitude less dense than geotextile polymers , the air in foams and hydrosols is <i> very </i> reasomably priced. On Friday, April 16, 2021 at 2:01:17 PM UTC-4 Andrew Lockley wrote: > Quantifying the overall effect of artificial glacier melt reduction in > Switzerland, 2005–2019 > Author links open overlay panelMatthiasHussabcDanielFarinottiab > https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coldregions.2021.103237 > Get rights and content > Under a Creative Commons licenseopen access > Highlights > • > Active glacier melt reduction in Switzerland using geotextiles is applied > at nine sites > > • > Artificial mitigation of ice melt is locally efficient but not scalable > > • > Investments for avoiding the melting of 1 cubic metre of ice range from > 0.6 to 8 CHF per year > > > Abstract > The artificial reduction of glacier melt is gaining increased attention > due to accelerated ice wastage with atmospheric warming. In Switzerland, > active coverage of glaciers using geotextiles is performed at currently > nine sites and since up to 15 years. The measures represent an efficient > method to locally safeguard the operability of ski slopes or other > touristic attractions. Here, we present an assessment of the evolution of > geotextile-covered areas and the correspondingly avoided ice melt across > the Swiss Alps. Presently, about 0.18 km2, or 0.02% of the total Swiss > glacier area, is covered by geotextiles, with a doubling of the covered > area since 2012. Up to 350,000 m3 of ice melt per year have been mitigated > by this technique. We estimate the overall costs of active glacier melt > reduction, and compute the price of 1 m3 of saved glacier ice, a number > relevant for planning such measures. Average costs over the last decade > range from 0.6 to 7.9 CHF m−3 yr−1 depending on the type of installation > and its location on the glacier. These relatively high costs are an > indication for the considerable economic value attributed to glacier ice. > We also show that artificial melt reduction is not scalable. Whilst local > interventions can be efficient and profitable, a hypothetical application > to the larger scale shows that saving Alpine glaciers by technological > solutions is neither achievable nor affordable. > > On Fri, 16 Apr 2021, 18:44 Renaud de RICHTER, <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> https://phys.org/news/2021-04-geotextiles-glacial.html >> Geotextiles could slow glacial melt, but at what cost? >> >> by Isabel Amos-Landgraf, Earth Institute at Columbia University >> <https://www.earth.columbia.edu/> >> [image: image.png] >> >> A researcher stands in front of the Rhone Glacier covered in geotextiles >> that protect it from accelerated melting. Credit: Matthias Huss >> <https://vaw.ethz.ch/en/people/person-detail.html?persid=96677> >> >> In the Swiss Alps, some ski resorts and glacial tourist attractions are >> using reflective blankets known as geotextiles to protect parts of glaciers >> from accelerated summer melt caused by global warming. These businesses' >> stable winter incomes enable them to fund the use of expensive geotextiles >> during summers. If geotextiles are able to save small portions of glaciers >> in the Swiss Alps, could they be employed on entire glaciers on a global >> scale? A study published earlier this year argues that this strategy would >> inevitably fail. >> >> Researchers at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland looked at nine >> different Swiss sites currently using geotextiles to reduce glacial melt, >> and analyzed the possibility of using geotextiles on a larger scale. While >> the data in the study showed that these fabrics were able to locally reduce >> glacial melt by 59%, it also revealed that this strategy is too expensive >> to protect the more than 450,000 square miles of glaciers >> <https://phys.org/tags/glaciers/> around the world. >> >> Geotextiles slow summer ice melt in a number of ways. The albedo of the >> white textiles, or the reflectivity of their surfaces, is about 50% higher >> than the albedo of glacial ice. When the sun's radiation hits the >> geotextiles, a large amount of the energy that would have melted the ice is >> radiated back into the atmosphere. The textiles also collect rain, the >> evaporation of which cools the glacier. In addition, they provide >> insulation that stabilizes the ice's cooler temperatures. >> >> At first glance, this technological adaptation to global warming >> <https://phys.org/tags/global+warming/> is a promising solution for >> those passionate about glacier preservation. However, like other >> technological climate change solutions, such as carbon capture and storage >> or floodwalls, using geotextiles on a large scale is expensive and >> potentially detrimental to surrounding ecosystems. As a result, they have >> only been applied on small scales, mostly in an effort to preserve >> profitable ski runs. >> [image: image.png] >> >> One of the Swiss glaciers in the study covered annually to protect it >> from melting. Credit: Matthias Huss >> <https://vaw.ethz.ch/en/people/person-detail.html?persid=96677> >> >> According to the study, covering glaciers in Switzerland annually costs >> between 0.60 and 8.50 U.S. dollars per square meter per year. At this rate, >> the cost of installation and maintenance of a square kilometer of >> geotextile coverage would range from $600 to $8,500. Using the average of >> this cost range, $4,550, the cost of covering the total area of Swiss >> glaciers (1,000 square kilometers) would be $4.5 billion dollars—a >> significant expense, even for the wealthiest country in the world. The >> total glacier area on Earth is roughly 250,000 square kilometers. Though >> the cost per unit area would vary greatly from region to region, a rough >> initial estimate, based on the cost for Switzerland, places the cost of >> covering all glaciers at a bit above $1 trillion per year. >> >> Matthias Huss, a glaciologist at the University of Zurich and one of the >> authors of the study, told GlacierHub why this is not the solution some may >> hope it is. "You can put a blanket in one place on a glacier, let's say a >> few hundred square meters, and you can very efficiently protect ice >> locally. This absolutely works, but it costs >> <https://phys.org/tags/costs/> a lot of money," he explained. "If you >> have a corresponding economic revenue from the glacier, then this works. >> Saving an entire glacier is a completely different story. You would need to >> cover all of the ice on a much larger scale without a clear income benefit." >> >> Huss and his team of researchers concluded that attempting to prevent >> glacial melt with geotextiles cannot replace efforts to mitigate greenhouse >> gas emissions: finding ways to mitigate global warming must take precedence >> over inefficient and expensive technological solutions to small-scale >> effects of climate change. >> >> Christian Huggel, a professor of glaciology at the University of Zurich, >> spoke with GlacierHub about the implications of this study. "The >> conclusions confirm what we have been saying for a while: such geotextiles >> may be a temporary solution for a very local problem of glacier loss but >> are not scalable. And most importantly, they are by no means a solution for >> the problem of glacier shrinkage," he said. "For this problem, the only >> solution is to reduce CO2 emissions as much as possible." >> >> While this temporary and local solution does promise an extended life for >> some of Switzerland's most valued ski slopes, it does not offer a >> solution <https://phys.org/tags/solution/> for the most dire problem >> facing the world's glaciers—the climate crisis. >> >> *More information:* Matthias Huss et al. Quantifying the overall effect >> of artificial glacier melt reduction in Switzerland, 2005–2019, *Cold >> Regions Science and Technology* (2021). DOI: >> 10.1016/j.coldregions.2021.103237 >> <http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.coldregions.2021.103237> >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "geoengineering" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/geoengineering/CAHodn99_9Uv7baVKs0h2sns7%2BSesUKLa%2BJM5JPOat8NNHjyqRg%40mail.gmail.com >> >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/geoengineering/CAHodn99_9Uv7baVKs0h2sns7%2BSesUKLa%2BJM5JPOat8NNHjyqRg%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. 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