ScienceFocus.com

Could paint restore a glacier?

Andes melting glaciersThere have been wackier ideas suggested to save the planet, but this surely should be near the top of the list. Or should it?

Many glaciers in the Andes are slowly vanishing – 22 per cent of Peru’s glaciers already melted away.

So Peruvian amateur inventor Eduardo Gold has come up with a slightly bizarre yet pretty brilliant idea. Gold and his team are carrying out a pilot project of painting white the rocks of the Chalon Sombrero mountain in Peru.

The white paint reflects sunlight back into space just like the former glacier, preventing further warming of the planet’s surface. The hope is that cooling the mountain’s rocky surface will create a cooler micro-climate around the area, encouraging the glacier to ‘re-grow’.

Gold was one of 26 winners from 1700 applicants for the ‘100 Ideas to Save the Planet’ competition last year.

Find out more

Submitted by Jheni Osman

I'm not convinced it will be that simple.

Wed, 2010-06-23 12:45
M Paul Lloyd

 Simply reflecting solar energy back up through the atmosphere makes no allowance for the reduction in snowfall where glaciers accumulate nor the rise of coresponding abalation zones where they begin to melt.
Increased rainfall also helps break up glaciers and a warmer atmosphere will quite possibly lead to an increase in cloud cover and subsequent rainfall.
These factors seem to be far more significant in glacial retreat than sunshine or indeed rising average temperatures. It is worth bearing in mind that the original ice was unable to reflect enough solar energy to create its own self sustaining micro-climate and therfore it seems unlikely that some white paint will prove to be any better.