Slow the melt.

Brightening glacial surfaces with safe, reflective solutions.

Global temperatures are on the rise.

The long-predicted consequences of climate change are happening now. Global temperatures have been predicted to reach even higher records as of 2024. Lives, homes, and livelihoods are all at risk. One of the effects that global warming brings is glacial melt, which causes further warming through loss of reflectivity. This also destabilizes water supplies, agriculture, hydropower, infrastructure, and homes.

The implications? Catastrophic flooding and destabilization, both regionally and globally. With the planet warming at a much more rapid rate than experts predicted just a few years ago, there’s no time for delay. At this very moment, bright, reflective glacial ice is being replaced with dirty ice and exposed rocks and soil. The time for intervention is now.

At Bright Ice Initiative, we aim to preserve the reflectivity (surface albedo modification, or SAM) of glacial ice to mitigate this crisis. We collaborate with local communities in critical areas to co-develop and test locally-tailored solutions that increase resilience for communities and the planet.

Because transitioning to sustainable energy will take decades, we must co-develop, evaluate and test safe, localized, and ecologically respectful initiatives now. By preserving and restoring reflectivity to vital glacial regions, we reduce the pace of temperature rise (and potentially lessen sea level rise) while protecting ecosystems and species from catastrophic loss. These are tough challenges in the face of policies that often prioritize profit over planet, but we persevere and stay determined.

Our support has grown significantly as we’ve increased our scope, collaborations, and solidly demonstrated results over the years. We continue our dedication to transparency through updates, open access publications, and authentic collaborations.

Our Approach

A MICRO solution to a MACRO problem…

When glacial ice is covered with light-reflecting materials, the melting process is slowed. Over time, the ice can potentially be restored. Small-scale research field tests are essential to determine the practicality, safety, effectiveness, and potential costs and benefits of such approaches to preserving ice.

Our team has spent more than a decade developing, testing, and modeling the process of using Hollow Glass Microspheres (HGMs) to brighten the surface of dirty ice and melt water, increasing the albedo. These tiny, bright bubbles are made using sand-based materials found in abundance throughout the earth’s ecosystems. This family of materials are used worldwide in many everyday commercial applications, including marine applications, and interestingly, highway markings, where the bubbles don’t break, even in heavy truck traffic. We’ve found that these highly-reflective spheres work very well in thin layers over flat areas. As seen below, the bubbles were spread by hand onto the pond’s glacier-like ice, and the testing was closely monitored by the homeowner and his local team. 

Read more about our work on self-contained Minnesota pond here.

Our Approach: Abroad

For more sloped areas, we’ve also started testing a safe, clay-based material that shows promise to brighten ice while staying in place.

Last year, in cooperation with the Icelandic Meteorological Office, we conducted testing on the Langjökull Glacier using clay-based reflective materials. Our team diligently measured ice and snow thickness, temperature, and albedo (reflectivity) throughout the melt season. The results showed that this approach was safe and effective—even on a melting sloped glacier. We know we still have room for some improvement, which is one of the reasons we test in the first place.

Stay tuned!

Read more about our trip to Iceland here.

We are proud to be part of a growing coalition to preserve glacial ice.

Greenland • Iceland • Canada • Alaska • Vancouver • South America • Central America • Antarctica •

Greenland • Iceland • Canada • Alaska • Vancouver • South America • Central America • Antarctica •

Your help means the world.

Donations are crucial to our progress—past, present and future. Your generous support is integral for sustaining our collaborative, international, scientifically-grounded efforts to develop practical solutions that meet the needs of the communities we work with.