{"id":716873,"date":"2026-06-21T06:14:45","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T06:14:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/716873\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T06:14:45","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T06:14:45","slug":"scientists-using-underwater-drones-to-thicken-arctic-ice-layer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/716873\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists using underwater drones to thicken Arctic ice layer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>They\u2019re putting the Arctic on ice.<\/p>\n<p>Scientists have been working to stave off summer in one of the Earth\u2019s coldest places in a bid to protect rapidly melting Arctic sea ice \u2014 and it appears to be working, according to a report.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49707602;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39735260\" width=\"883\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/bays-victoria-island-photo-joker-131587292.jpg\" alt=\"arctic ice\" class=\"wp-image-39735260\"  \/>Scientists went to Northern Canada in a bid to help thicken Arctic ice and protect it from melting in the warmer summer months. ullstein bild via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>During the process, the ocean water freezes, thickening the ice and providing an extra layer of protection during the relatively warmer summer months.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis would have been a wild dream a year ago,\u201d Andrea Ceccolini, Head of Institution at Real Ice,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/2026\/jun\/16\/arctic-sea-ice-rethickening-climate-geoengineering\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"> told the Guardian.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Arctic ice sheets help reflect the sun\u2019s heat, keeping the planet cool, but warmer temperatures and decreasing ice have accelerated the melting, creating a vicious cycle, scientists said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen the sea ice disappears completely from the Arctic on a Summer day, it will trigger a Blue Ocean Event \u2014\u00a0a 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,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.realice.eco\/about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">according to Real Ice.<\/a><\/p>\n<p> \u201cOur goal is to ensure that sea ice remains in the Arctic year-round.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Not only is Arctic ice shrinking, it\u2019s getting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.climate.gov\/news-features\/understanding-climate\/climate-change-arctic-sea-ice-summer-minimum\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">thinner \u201cand more fragile,\u201d<\/a> according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.80599647;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39735261\" width=\"1024\" height=\"567\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/real-ice-effort-funded-uk-131588293.jpg\" alt=\"Scientists from Real Ice, which is funded by the UK government, pump ocean water to the surface in the winter and then measure it in the summer.\" class=\"wp-image-39735261\"  \/>Scientists from Real Ice, which is funded by the UK government, pump ocean water to the surface in the winter and then measure it in the summer.  Instagram \/ real_ice.eco<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>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. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019d 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,\u201d Real Ice co-founder\u00a0C\u00edan Sherwin said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They\u2019re putting the Arctic on ice. Scientists have been working to stave off summer in one of the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":716874,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[35160,103,4253,192,2483,79,28004,1049,965],"class_list":["post-716873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-arctic","tag-canada","tag-climate-change","tag-environment","tag-ice","tag-science","tag-temperature","tag-united-kingdom","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=716873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/716874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=716873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=716873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=716873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}