Scientists using underwater drones to thicken Arctic ice

They’re putting the Arctic on ice.

Scientists have been working to stave off summer in one of the Earth’s coldest places in a bid to protect rapidly melting Arctic sea ice — and it appears to be working, according to a report.

Real Ice, an effort funded by the UK government, uses hydrogen-powered underwater drones to pump seawater to the surface of the Arctic in winter, where temperatures can average -40 degrees Fahrenheit.

During the process, the ocean water freezes, thickening the ice and providing an extra layer of protection during the relatively warmer summer months.

“This would have been a wild dream a year ago,” Andrea Ceccolini, Head of Institution at Real Ice, told the Guardian.

Arctic ice sheets help reflect the sun’s heat, keeping the planet cool, but warmer temperatures and decreasing ice have accelerated the melting, creating a vicious cycle, scientists said.

“When the sea ice disappears completely from the Arctic on a Summer day, it will trigger a Blue Ocean Event — a catastrophic tipping point that will result in rapid warming and expansion of the oceans, slowing of cold water currents, ocean acidification, and increasing violent storms and flooding of coastal cities,” according to Real Ice.

“Our goal is to ensure that sea ice remains in the Arctic year-round.”

Not only is Arctic ice shrinking, it’s getting thinner “and more fragile,” according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Real Ice scientists had worked in temperatures of -40 degrees Fahrenheit months ago in the northern Canadian town of Cambridge Bay to pump 50,000 tons of ocean water to the surface of the Arctic ice, an effort which added roughly 50 centimeters to the frozen layer, they told The Guardian.

The effort resulted in a patch of bright white ice in satellite images of the area, the scientists told the outlet, raising hopes the work could be done at a larger scale.

“We’d like to see the research just continue to go forward in a way that we can have an informed opinion on what this looks like at scale, if it scales at all,” Real Ice co-founder Cían Sherwin said.