Repair
Exploring Pathways to Prolong the Health of Critical Marine Ecosystems and Avert Dangerous Climate Tipping Points
People around the globe are recording rapid and dramatic changes in the ocean and cryosphere, as increasing concentrations of heat-trapping greenhouse gas pollution in the atmosphere drive increased atmosphere and ocean temperatures, as well as changes in ocean chemistry. These in turn have caused a ripple of alarming effects, from widespread coral reef loss to changes in ocean circulation to a rapidly diminishing cryosphere, which plays a pivotal role in ocean-climate regulation.
Given the enormity of these risks, Ocean Visions’ Repair Program works to responsibly investigate possible ideas that may be able to help forestall dangerous losses and transformations of critical marine ecosystems, while society continues work to reduce and remove greenhouse gas pollution as the permanent solution.
Ocean Health
The current rate of marine ecosystem damage from the tropics to the poles is staggering and continues to increase. Many scientists warn that some marine ecosystems and cryosphere elements are reaching dangerous tipping points that would lead to irreversible changes in these critical and complex ecosystems and trigger additional climate feedback loops. 15 of the 26 tipping points assessed in the Global Tipping Points report are related to the ocean or cryosphere and, in 2025, this report indicated that warm water corals are now past their thermal tipping point.
The only durable way to slow, and ultimately reverse, these climate change-driven threats is by reducing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, through decarbonization (i.e., reductions of greenhouse gas emissions) and removing legacy carbon.
Unfortunately, the best available science on climate risk indicates that, given the current and projected levels of human-caused greenhouse gas pollution, even combined rapid decarbonization and carbon dioxide removal are unlikely to cool the planet in time to prevent dramatic and sustained ecosystem shifts that would perpetuate further climate disruption and destabilization.
Given the enormity of the risks associated with tipping points and non-linear change, Ocean Visions believes it is necessary to responsibly investigate possible ideas that may be able to forestall transformations of marine ecosystems and passing of more tipping points, while society continues work to reduce and remove greenhouse gas pollution as the permanent solution. Read the full list of facts and principles guiding our work.
50 percent of Earth’s coral reefs have been lost since 1950, and Arctic summer sea ice extent is declining by 13 percent per decade, since satellite tracking first began 40 years ago.
Repair Program Focus
The Repair Program works to systematically identify and assess potential approaches to prolong and reinforce the functioning of critical components of the ocean–climate system. We currently focus on the Arctic region, an interconnected ice–ocean–land system, and on Arctic sea ice as a lynchpin for a frozen Arctic specifically. Summer sea ice is at the same time one of the most critical systems and at greatest and most immediate risk.
Arctic summer sea ice has historically played a critical role in reflecting incoming solar radiation and stabilizing regional and global climate. That albedo effect has diminished as summer sea ice extent has now fallen to roughly half of its historical average. Under all emissions trajectories reported by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, summer sea ice is projected to largely disappear by mid-century, if not sooner.
The loss of summer sea ice to date has amplified warming in the Arctic, and its projected continued decline has the potential to trigger cascading changes in systems of global concern, including permafrost, the Greenland Ice Sheet, boreal forests, and the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. Interventions that could help maintain or rebuild Arctic sea ice may represent one of the most powerful levers available to slow planetary heating and reduce the risk of irreversible change.
Read more about the importance of Arctic sea ice, its role in Earth’s energy balance, and why it’s a focus of Ocean Visions’ Repair program.
Given the enormity of the risk, Ocean Visions believes it is necessary to responsibly investigate all possible ideas that may be able to help forestall dangerous losses and transformations of critical marine ecosystems, while society continues work to reduce and remove greenhouse gas pollution as the permanent solution.
Current Work
The Repair Program organizes its work around three interconnected areas: building the knowledge base on potential Arctic climate intervention approaches, advancing research on summer sea ice repair, and growing a community that is diverse and cross-sector with the expertise needed to responsibly build, interpret, and apply this knowledge.
Building the Knowledge Base: Arctic Sea Ice Road Map
Through a collaborative process, engaging an advisory board of Arctic science experts, Ocean Visions developed a digital, interactive road map assessing tools and strategies that may be able to slow the loss of and rebuild Arctic sea ice. The Road Map is continually updated as new information becomes available.
The Road Map reviews the current state and potential of 21 approaches to slow the loss of Arctic sea ice, analyzes social and environmental risks and co-benefits, identifies key governance issues, and highlights the knowledge gaps that need to be filled to fully evaluate the tools and interventions. It also identifies a set of first-order priorities for additional research, development, and potential testing.
The Road Map adds to a growing body of work assessing potential interventions in the Arctic to address climate change. The University of the Arctic developed a rapid assessment of 61 different interventions described in Albert van Wijngaarden et al. 2024.
LEARN MORE
- Access digital Road Maps
- Read the High Level Summary Report
- Read moreabout how the Arctic Road Map was developed
- Make content submissions to the Road Map.
Advancing Research: The Arctic Sea Ice Restoration Research Fund
To advance responsible exploration of the most promising approaches, Ocean Visions created the Arctic Sea Ice Restoration Research Fund, pooling resources from donors to identify and fund high-priority research needed to increase societal knowledge of potential approaches to protecting and restoring Arctic sea ice. The Fund mobilizes action on a subset of the first-order research priorities identified in the road map with a near-term focus on those that are underfunded and untested.
Growing the Community of Innovators, Researchers, Institutions, and Beyond
Avoiding climate tipping points and repairing critical ecosystems must become a widely shared undertaking: with increasing engagement of more people, expertise and resources, and sustained capacity to do the work. Without broader, visible support for research, development, and engagement, progress will remain limited.
We work to engage a diverse, international cross-section of disciplines and communities to build capacity for conducting research and participating meaningfully in deliberation. In parallel, we build awareness, understanding, and urgency, ensuring that those positioned to shape decisions and those that are impacted by their outcomes are informed and engaged as research and development advance.
More Information
For questions about Ocean Visions’ Repair program please contact us at repair@oceanvisions.org.
