One of the ways in which warming oceans are accelerating the worries of sea-level rise, is through warmer sea water lapping at the underside of glaciers, helping this to melt faster. Furthermore, the glacier moves faster when its base is wetter.
The idea of a curtain, would stop this warm water from coming into contact with the glacier. Importantly, if we can stop this acceleration of the glaciers through this method, it will help stop the loss of the glaciers.
The idea, would be to moor this curtain to the bed of the Amundsen sea, rising around 200m from the sea floor. This curtain would partially restrict this inflow of warmer water. Admittedly, if this was undertaken, it would be one of the largest geo-engineering projects in the world. However, this is a huge problem which we need to deal with. The melting of the vast glaciers on Antarctica could trigger flooding that would require hundreds of millions of people to move. More alarming still, it is feared, that should you loose the glaciers, much of the remaining coverage of Antarctica could start sliding back into the sea.
This curtain would protect the Thwaites and Pine Island glaciers, which are what is stopping the rest of the Antarctic ice sheet from sliding into the sea.
For reference, these two glaciers store enough water to raise sea levels around the globe by around 3m.
