Eco-ICE is an interdisciplinary research project investigating the potential ecological risks of climate interventions aimed at cooling the Earth, with the focus on vulnerable Arctic ecosystem. In collaboration with the British Antarctic Survey, the project examines how sea-ice thickening could affect the climate, and marine ecosystems, helping to provide evidence for evaluating future engineering interventions.
Ecological Impact Assessment of Earth Cooling Experiments in the Arctic (Eco-ICE) is an interdisciplinary research project that evaluates the ecological risks associated with proposed climate interventions designed to cool the Earth and slow climate change.
While various engineering interventions have been widely studied for their potential to reduce surface warming, there has been little systematic assessment of its impacts on delicate polar ecosystems. Eco-ICE addresses this gap by combining Earth system modelling, attribution analysis, targeted lab experiments, and ecological risk assessment to provide an independent, evidence-based evaluation framework for future climate intervention projects.
Specifically, the ARIA-funded Eco-ICE project investigates how sea-ice thickening approaches influence the physical climate system, water cycle, ocean circulation, sea ice, biogeochemistry, and marine ecosystems across multiple spatial and temporal scales.
A central objective is to distinguish changes caused by direct engineering interventions from those driven by natural climate variability and long-term anthropogenic climate change. This understanding will underpin a comprehensive ecological risk assessment that can guide policymakers, funding agencies, environmental organisations, and the scientific community in evaluating future intervention proposals.
Research at ECI focuses on the physical climate component of the project and executes encompassing attribution analysis also involving biogeochemical and ecological dimensions throughout the Arctic system.
