Arctic sea ice is rapidly thinning as summer melt seasons lengthen, with projections indicating the region could face its first "nearly ice-free" summer—defined as having less than one million square kilometers of ice—during the 2030s. According to data from the NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), Arctic sea ice extent has declined by more than 12% per decade since satellite monitoring began. While winter ice will likely continue to form, the resulting cover is increasingly younger, thinner, and more vulnerable to seasonal heat.
Engineering a Thicker Ice Cover
To address the loss of sea ice, the organization Real Ice has conducted field trials in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, testing a method to thicken existing ice. The process involves using submersible pumps to draw seawater from beneath the ice and spreading it across the surface during the winter. This water saturates the snow and freezes, creating an additional layer of ice.
By removing the insulating layer of snow, the technique allows the colder air to reach the ice surface, which further promotes ice growth from beneath. Andrea Ceccolini, CEO of Real Ice, noted that the process is designed to reinforce paths and working surfaces, a practice similar to techniques used for decades to build ice roads and maintain skating rinks.
Scientific Results and Field Observations
The first scientific field trial, conducted during the 2024–2025 winter, was published on May 22, 2025, in the journal Earth’s Future. Researchers established eight treated test plots and three control areas. The results showed that treated areas gained up to 32 centimeters of additional thickness compared to the control plots—an increase comparable to the total loss of ice thickness observed in the Arctic over the last 50 years.
Follow-up observations indicated that the benefits persisted through the summer melt season. According to reports in The Guardian, subsequent tests showed that by the start of the 2026 melt season, the thickness difference had reached 50 centimeters. The treated plots also exhibited a higher albedo, reflecting more solar radiation back into space than the thinner, untreated ice.
Local Impacts and Inuit Collaboration
For local communities in the Arctic, the thinning ice directly impacts mobility, hunting, and fishing. The Real Ice project was developed in coordination with local partners in Ikaluktutiak, including the Ekaluktutiak Hunters and Trappers Organization, which provided a letter of support for the trials.
Kyle Weese, an Inuit guide involved in the project, stated that understanding these environmental shifts is essential for adapting traditional activities. "It’s good to know how it’s changing so we can adapt and try to conserve it," Weese told The Guardian.
Scaling Challenges and Environmental Risks
Despite the successful localized results, the prospect of scaling this technology to the entire Arctic remains a significant challenge. A 2016 estimate suggested that covering just 10% of the Arctic would require ten million pumps, while covering the entire region would necessitate 100 million pumps.
Experts remain cautious regarding the broader ecological implications. A 2025 review published in Frontiers in Science suggested that large-scale intervention attempts could carry environmental risks and may not be viable at the scale required to reverse global trends.
Real Ice is currently exploring the use of autonomous underwater robots, tested in Finland in partnership with the BioRobotics Institute of Pisa, to reduce the need for human intervention.
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