https://repository.tudelft.nl/islandora/object/uuid:1880b7bf-c115-4c4c-9e6e-33425933cdad

Author

van Dijke, Laura
<https://repository.tudelft.nl/islandora/search/author%3A%22van%20Dijke%2C%20Laura%22>
(TU
Delft Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering)
Contributor

Hendrikse, H. (mentor)
<https://repository.tudelft.nl/islandora/search/contributor%3A%22Hendrikse%2C%20H.%20%28mentor%29%22>

Ypma, F. (mentor)
<https://repository.tudelft.nl/islandora/search/contributor%3A%22Ypma%2C%20F.%20%28mentor%29%22>
Owen, C.C. (
<https://repository.tudelft.nl/islandora/search/contributor%3A%22Owen%2C%20C.C.%20%28mentor%29%22>
mentor)
van der Male, P. (graduation committee)
<https://repository.tudelft.nl/islandora/search/contributor%3A%22van%20der%20Male%2C%20P.%20%28graduation%20committee%29%22>
Hoving, J.S. (graduation
<https://repository.tudelft.nl/islandora/search/contributor%3A%22Hoving%2C%20J.S.%20%28graduation%20committee%29%22>
committee)
Degree granting institution

Delft University of Technology
Programme

Offshore and Dredging Engineering
<https://repository.tudelft.nl/islandora/search/mods_note_programme_s%3A%22Offshore%255C%2Band%255C%2BDredging%255C%2BEngineering%22>


Document type Master thesis
Date

2022-10-14
Abstract

The Arctic is warming more rapidly than other latitudes, which can result
in the release of additional greenhouse gasses, global sea level rise and
increase in extreme weather events. Additionally, this causes the rapid
decline of sea ice and an ice free Arctic might occur during the summer in
the 2040s. The decreasing sea ice cover accelerates the warming of the
Arctic, which is known as the albedo feedback system. *Solar radiation
management (SRM) can be a solution to diminish or possibly stop sea ice
decline. Within SRM a proposed technology, known as Arctic Ice Management
(AIM), is distributing water on top of existing sea ice to increase the ice
thickness enough to survive the summer melt.* This raises the question:
What water volume should AIM distribute on top of existing sea ice to
counteract the annual Arctic sea ice volume loss? Based on data obtained
during the period 1979-2020, the September trends for ice extent, ice area
and ice volume are -83 400 km2yr-1, -49 200 km2yr-1 and -322 km3yr-1
respectively. The ice volume is considered as target parameter, as it
accounts for both absolute areal ice loss and overall decreasing ice
thickness. There are two main ice drift patterns in the Arctic: The
Beaufort Gyre in the Beaufort Sea and the Transpolar Drift, of which the
latter exports ice through Fram Strait into the Greenland Sea. Literature
shows the ice remains within the Arctic for about five years when located
in the Beaufort Sea and one to two years when located in the Transpolar
Drift. For both locations, the ice decay is determined using an analytical
approach first. This approach shows resemblance for ice located in the
Beaufort Sea, but generally overestimates the ice decay in the Transpolar
Drift. For this reason, an empirical approach is developed to determine the
survival ice thickness. This results in accurate trends for ice decay of
-2.1 to -2.7 cm day-1 in the Beaufort Sea and -0.8 to -1.4 cm day-1 in the
Transpolar Drift. Considering 91 melting days results in an average
survival thickness of 2.18 and 1 m respectively. AIM can be used to
increase the ice thickness beyond this survival thickness and an AIM model
is developed to show ice growth including AIM. The model concludes the AIM
thickness, initial ice thickness prior to flooding and freezing duration
after AIM define the effective ice thickness increase. The model is
validated with small scale experiments, which indicate a delay between the
flooding phase and continued natural ice growth. This delay can be the
effect of the duration required to restore the temperature profile in the
ice after flooding as shown by COMSOL Multiphysics simulations. Considering
the AIM model, it is discouraged to implement AIM on ice thicknesses below
0.6 m and suggested for ice thicknesses approaching 1 m or higher to
optimize the effective increase. The required water volume to compensate
the annual sea ice volume loss highly depends on the location, initial ice
thickness and target ice thickness and varies between 707 to 1095 km3 in
the Beaufort Sea and between 386 to 464 km3 in the Transpolar Drift for the
methods discussed in this research. To pump up this water volume, the
expected power requirements are 4.5 to 7.0 GW and 2.5 to 3.0 GW
respectively.

*Source: TUDelft*

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