Inventor in Peru is Painting the Mountain Peaks White

Inventor Eduardo Gold has embarked on an ambitious idea to coat a mountain summit in white paint in an experiment to see the effect on melting glaciers in the area.  The work has already begun and Gold and his team of painters have received $200,000 through an environmental grant organisation to complete the project.

The World Bank has money set aside each year to fund environmental projects all over the world.  This year there were 26 winners including Gold and his team each receiving money to fund projects that it is hoped will benefit the environment.

The extinct glacial area that has been chosen as the site for the project is the Chalon Sombrero which in its day provided water for the valley below and several rivers in the area.  The theory of the project is that the white surface on the top of the mountain will reflect the sun’s rays which should in theory cool the area around the mountain top.  The simple science behind the idea is that a change in the albedo (or reflectivity of a surface) means that the surface doesn’t absorb as much heat and doesn’t emit as much infra red radiation which is a problem when it heats greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Many of the people who live near the glacier and have watched it slowly melt away are optimistic that the white paint may cause a return for the glacier.  The villages in this area rely on water from melting glaciers as well as melting snow so any idea that can return some of the extinct glaciers will also potentially return life to some of the villages that rely on this water.

Although there are some people who feel that this project is not the best way to spend the grant money, we will all have to wait and see whether the white paint is enough to change the microclimate on the mountain and promote new glacial ice forming.