Evaluating the impacts of localized artificial enhancement of sea ice albedo over Beaufort Gyre towards restoring Arctic Sea Ice

CMIP6 projections show that the Arctic could be ice-free by 2050, leading to global climate disruptions like destabilizing polar jets, stronger storms and prolonged droughts. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions alone will not be sufficient to preserve Arctic sea ice, necessitating additional climate restoration efforts. Field et al. (2018) proposed restoring sea ice by artificially enhancing surface sea ice albedo with reflective hollow glass microspheres (HGMs) and their modeling simulations show the potential of this technology in Arctic sea ice recovery. While Arctic-wide application is expensive, localized targeted deployments may be feasible. Here we investigate the impacts and efficacy of regional surface albedo modification (SAM) application in the Beaufort Gyre (BG) on the Arctic sea ice and atmospheric radiation budget. We simulate SAM in the BG region carrying out a ten-member ensemble of 50 years (2000–2050) integrations using a global CESM2 climate model. Our results show that ∼50 % surface albedo enhancement in the BG region reduces absorbed surface radiation by ∼5 W/m² and increases outgoing radiation at the top of the atmosphere by ∼4.34 W/m² during summer, comparable to the global anthropogenic radiative forcing of 4.5 W/m² in the underlying SSP2–4.5 scenario. These radiation budget changes cool the surface of Arctic annually by 0.78 °C, BG area by 3 °C and thicken the BG area summer sea ice by up to ∼1 m. Our findings suggest that targeted SAM could help preserve Arctic sea ice, and delay an ice-free Arctic ocean, offering a viable interim climate intervention.