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Mylar salvation

 Prevent earth's icecaps from melting with Mylar
  (+5, -4)
(+5, -4) 		  [vote for,
against]

Icecaps and glaciers are melting really badly. Let's preserve them by stitching together all of those mylar survival blankets ever made and putting the giant quilt over the poles. The earth's albedo goes up, melting slows down and... presto! Planet's safe for progeny.
—bjl8, Sep 06 2006

Pitzal Glacier http://www.canary-p...itzal_austria2.html
photo of part of the (fleece, apparently) cover [imaginality, Sep 09 2006]

Talk to Christo http://www.christoj...rappedCoast/wc3.jpg
He seems to like wrapping big things up. Though he also likes to have zero impact on the environment, so he'll probably want to take it all down two weeks later. [DrCurry, Sep 10 2006]

[link]






       So, um, we'll keep the ice caps from melting by putting a giant quilt on to keep them warm at night...?
—DrCurry, Sep 06 2006
   

       Surely quilts only keep you warm if you're a heat source, [DrCurry]? If you're an ice block, they keep you cold. Please reassure me that you knew that, or I'll worry.
—pertinax, Sep 06 2006
   

       ...and Mylarcheaology is born.   

       Pertinax, do you mean a heat source like the earth?
—jmvw, Sep 06 2006
   

       How's that again? The albedo goes up by putting mylar over snow?
—ldischler, Sep 06 2006
   

       Well, mylar is nearly 100% reflective, wheras snow is... well, you're right, nearly 100% reflective.
—5th Earth, Sep 07 2006
   

       They've been trying this recently in the [Austrian?] Alps, on the Pitzal Glacier, with some success, apparently. (National Geographic, Feb 2006) Sorry, couldn't find a link.
—m_Al_com, Sep 09 2006
   

       Presumably the mylar would reflect the sunlight before it hit the main mass of snow, penetrating a few inches, and slightly warming that section of the snowfield...   

       How exactly do we get the mylar above newly fallen snow though?
—ye_river_xiv, Sep 09 2006
   

       Mylar louvres.
—Texticle, Sep 09 2006
   

       //Well, mylar is nearly 100% reflective//
Actually no, unless it's aluminized.
—ldischler, Sep 10 2006
   

       Ha! I read this as "mylar salivation."
—discontinuuity, Sep 10 2006
   

       D'oh! You got me, [jmvw] ;)
—pertinax, Sep 14 2006
   
      
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