Intervention Technologies Research
Forecasted
Intervention Technologies Research supports researchers studying ways to increase friction beneath glaciers, advancing early-stage technologies that could reduce ice-sheet-driven sea-level rise risk.
Funder: Arête Glacier Initiative
Due Dates (Anticipated): August 2027 (application deadline)
Funding Amounts: Up to $75,000 over 1–2 years
Summary: Supports early-stage research on technologies that could increase friction beneath glaciers and reduce ice-sheet-driven sea-level rise risk.
Key Information: This RFP does not support travel or fieldwork.
Description
Arête Glacier Initiative funds research intended to reduce the risk of catastrophic sea-level rise caused by ice-sheet instability. This RFP supports basic and applied research on ways to increase friction beneath glaciers, particularly by extracting subglacial water or cooling and refreezing it. The aim is to establish whether approaches such as water extraction and passive heat pumps, or thermosyphons, could become practical intervention technologies.
Projects may use laboratory experiments, theoretical and numerical models, thermodynamic or fluid-mechanical analysis, and device design or prototyping. The focus is on performance, feasibility, physical limits, tradeoffs, and unintended effects in simplified or controlled settings—not deployment plans for a particular glacier. The RFP seeks early-stage work that can move concepts toward proof of concept in laboratory or simulated environments.
