Two companies have tested pumping seawater onto Arctic ice to increase its thickness and slow summer melting. Field trials in Canada and Norway produced thicker ice but showed varying effects on how long it lasted.
Researchers from the Dutch firm Arctic Reflections conducted a trial in April 2024 in a Svalbard lagoon. They pumped seawater onto the ice for about an hour, raising thickness from 90 centimetres to 1.16 metres. The thickened ice began to rot later than untreated ice but melted completely on the same day as a control site.