Pumped up: will a Dutch startup’s plan to restore Arctic sea-ice work?

A polar bear on the sea ice in Naujaat, or Repulse Bay, Nunavut, Canada. Arctic ice is shrinking at a rate of almost 13% a decade, and climate scientists are warning that ice-free summers in the Arctic are inevitable by 2050. Photograph: Paul Souders/Getty Images

Every winter when the temperatures drop, the IJsmeester (ice master) in villages around the Netherlands carefully starts to flood a field with water to form enough thin layers of ice to create a perfect outdoor skating rink.

Now a Dutch startup wants to use the same technique to help solve a major ecological problem: melting Arctic ice and its devastating effect on the climate.