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UAE To Drag Iceberg From Antarctica To Solve Water Shortage Set To Last 25 Years (express.co.uk)
schwit1 quotes a report from Daily Express: The UAE, which is among the top 10 water-scarce countries in the world, hopes to help ease the stress of a drinking water shortage by towing an iceberg from the freezing Antarctica in order to create more drinking water. The National Advisor Bureau Limited's (NABL) managing Director Abdullah Mohammad Sulaiman Al Shehi says an average iceberg contains "more than 20 billion gallons of water" which would be enough for one million people over five years. Up to four-fifths of an iceberg's mass is underwater, and due to their vast density, they would theoretically not melt in the boiling climate of the Middle Eastern coastal line. Mr Al Shehi says it could take up to a year to drag the huge body of ice up to the UAE, and the project is set to begin in 2018.
climate problems aren't man made and it's probably a good idea when countries start to directly melt the pols,...
Ain't no shortage of rag-heads proudly wasting water in the United Ayrahb Emirates.
Wow! This sounds very similar to the plot of what was the last episode of Salvage I that I can remember seeing.
Now time to go see if Netflix has it; and if not Netflix, see if anyone has ever uploaded episodes to YouTube.
This space unintentionally left blank.
Wow.
That's a mouthful ...of Camel Semen.
Seriously, when will we able to mod down an article after it's published?
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
".. and due to their vast density, they..."
Uhhhh, Icebergs are *less* dense that's why they float. I think the author means mass.
Dialectician. Archology.
Desalinization plant.
Wasn't this one of the ways to waste money in Brewster's Millions?
Vast density is what the guy who wrote that craptastic article has.
Or, are we trying to solve the polar ice melting by drinking it? Get rid of the evidence! Flushing ice cubes down the toilet.
The water shortage is expected to last 25 years, and the average iceberg contains enough water for 5 years (for 1 million people). According to Google, the UAE population is currently ~9.16Million, meaning if all of the water were recovered, it would last about half a year if all water came from the iceberg. And they're planning on starting this project next year. They'd have to tow two average icebergs a year to supply everyone from it. Ok, maybe only like 10% of water will come from the iceberg, but it has to go through a water-treatment plant before it'll be used, presumably displacing capacity for processing other water that'd be run through it instead.
Source looks like a tabloid, by the way.
Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
We let the chinese sreall out Sunlight and the They already stole our oil now we are going to let thm steall OUR water !!
Bomb them back into the stone age USA #'1!!
I didn't know it was that easy to steal a world resource.
Normally that hunk of ice would be frozen in place in Antarctica, but thanks to the miracle of global warming those thirsty rich Arabs will have plenty of water.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
They're buying it from the jews. Iceberg, Goldberg, what's the difference?
Australia proposed exactly this suggestion about 25 years ago.
Then they started looking for ships powerful enough to move such a drag
Project died.
Surprise.
They hired Carmen Sandiego to help figure out the logistics.
Quite an ambitious project. I hope they are successful.
Just let 'em die of thirst.
I've heard that should help restore the glacial masses at the north and south poles quite well, as well as lower temperatures worldwide and help return (acid) rainfall to many parts of the world. I've heard it will also lower the population strain on existing freshwater resources.
I could of course be DEAD WRONG :)
pure water for sale
distilled water would be the next best thing except the stupid bottlers put the hot water directly into the bottles cooking the plastic taste into it
People have been talking about doing this since the 1800s, . Nice to see this finally getting it done.
P.S. California take a note, it's almost certainly cheaper than building desal plants but 5 will get you 10, you'll still have to fight your loony environmentalists.
Well UAE likes to have world records. With all the money they are not able to build a desalination plant to cover drinking water ? I would think they could afford several.
they could start the project after that chunk of Larsen C ice shelf breaks off. Maybe they could hire the Russians (attempt) to tow it with their nuclear powered ice breaker.
In that case an iceberg would sink. Its density is close to that of salt water, that's why it floats! Idiot!
Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
Who knew there was an average size iceberg. Well presumably there is. But who knew that the actual average size was so well known.
Gotta be from the ACME Think Tank.
Table-ized A.I.
Why should a country that contributes so much to global warming (in possession of 94% of the world's oil reserves) get to take water from a global resource? How about they invest in renewable energy and THEN we talk.
While I normally applaud efforts to solve large problems I have serious reservations about this operation. It seems like a fleet of ships will be in constant operation for 1 year to provide 5 years worth of fresh water. How can that be the most ecologically sound solution to this problem at that price point? This seems to be an effort to grab at straws and likely set off confrontations over who gets to control the remaining sea ice (as if we will ever see an increase in the lifetimes of ourselves or our direct descendants).
The carbon footprint IS TOO DAMN HIGH!
You know that more food creates more people. Then more people need more food.
This has a snowball's chance in hell of working... or something.
"I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."
a ) Emergence of New Tech(tm) to solve the problem!
b) The managing director expects to tire of playing golf in the desert within 25 years, and will reluctantly relinquish the water.
c) After 20 years of delays in the construction of desalination plants due to graft, the corrupt ministers will retire, thus leaving only a new generation of completely honest ministers, and the plants will be finished up within 5 years.
d) Everyone will have left the UAE due to other countries moving away from ICEs, regional strife, etc.
e) Mandatory 25-year water shortage. Sorry, they'd LOVE to fit it into their schedule next century, but darn, it's just too FULL.
f) Aliens. Somehow.
g) The Rapture will happen in 25 years so it'll be moot.
Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
Anthrax and other nasty bugs that currently live in the ice will be happy to move to the Arabic Paradise.
once and for all! https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
Yes, they have many desalination plants, using several different technologies, and invest heavily in researching new desalination technology.
Desalination takes a lot of energy aka money. It should cost maybe 50% or 70% to tow the ice than to desalinate seawater.
Or they could bet the farm on dragging an iceberg to their country and watch as that plan fails for any number of reasons.
Welcome ice pirates of Somalia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ice_Pirates
Smells of BS. I Highly doubt it would be practical. Then again they are known for burning money just because and nearly anything can be done provided enough money.
And now you know why they predict that the problem will simply go away in 25 years. With a spot of luck, in way less than that.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Or did you miss that news?
Isn't an iceberg made of salty sea water?
Or, are we trying to solve the polar ice melting by drinking it?
No, this is to solve the problem of rising ocean levels.
the idea that the oil states could profit in this way from global warming is one of the most repugnant ideas I've ever heard.
This project simply won't happen. An iceberg taken into tow instantly becomes the responsibility of the UAE, even if they change their minds and abandon the previously towed object. The UAE would be responsible for chunks that have separated from the iceberg, again even if they abandoned the project after initially towing. This will release iceberg bits into ocean waters where icebergs are not usually present. All this together will result in huge potential liability payments. The UAE will likely need international consent. This iceberg would have to pass through other national waters. It would have to be at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. I just don't see other countries supporting the UAE in this proposed endeavor. Since this has never been done and could be considered something of a publicity stunt, if there is any damage the UAE could face credible assertions that they were irresponsible. Cutting the iceberg where it is cold and transporting the chunks on ships would be much more practical. Of course it would be more expensive than just more desalination plantsso this iceberg project would be more expensive than that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... None Like It Hot!
Fifty knot winds for days on hundred foot high faces three hundred yards long don't matter? The winds push the tabular icebergs of the size mentioned about far more quickly than the currents move and in different directions. They have a high "sail to draft ratio" compared with the arctic icebergs.
An iceberg the size of a city on the other hand will act as you suggest, but nobody is planning to move any of those any time soon.
Rich countries like UAE can airlift it. Using their cargo airliners there, with their A300F and Ukraine made An124 and IL-76 fleets, they can airlift this precious ice.
I thought expediting the melting of arctic ice was a bad thing? Bringing it to the middle east would make it melt faster right?
And now you know why they predict that the problem will simply go away in 25 years. With a spot of luck, in way less than that.
If people tow any appreciable amount of ice out of there then currents will be affected and it probably will be way less than that. I'll be sorry to lose Santa Cruz and San Francisco but won't miss Dubai.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I think you meant to say James Cameron.
Lets hope all passenger liners stay clear of those tugged icebergs. It would be Titanic all over again...
Monty Brewster invested in this back in the '85
Normally that hunk of ice would be frozen in place in Antarctica, but thanks to the miracle of global warming those thirsty rich Arabs will have plenty of water.
If it is frozen in place, it isn't an iceberg. Thanks O'Bama!
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Like most anything else these days, we at least 20 more years of environmental study before we even consider doing this.
Maybe we could go to the UAE and fill up some tankers with their natural resource (oil) and drive them back to Europe?
Someone must have watched Brewster's Millions -- where this was treated as a crackpot idea.
Where do they propose to "hold" this five year supply of water? Seems like they'd need to build a really big holding tank, about a 3 billion square foot tank (there are 7.48 gallons of water in one square foot)... By my back-of-envelope, sure to be proven wrong, calculation that would mean a 7,745 foot square box, fifty feet tall to contain the 20 billion gallons.
Ken
No worries we will use petro-dollars to buy it to offset global warming. ....oh wait
>> From the summary: "...not melt in the boiling climate of the Middle Eastern coastal line"
I know it can get hot around that area but does it ever really reach 100C / 212F? I seriously doubt that. Journalistic FAIL!
They are using money made from fossil fuels, which cause global warming.
They might not have the money if it weren't for fossil fuels.
Because of the fossil fuel use, they will less icebergs to choose from.
https://www.youtube.com/c/BrendaEM
Nice post. Your 3am back of the envelope calculations inspired me to do a few of my own.
I googled around a bit, to see if hitching a ride on any of the numerous Coriolis-driven boundary gyres in the world's oceans would be feasible.
Based on my own BotE calculations, the UAE team might be planning to hitch a ride on the Western Australia boundary gyre. This gyre flows north along the west coast of Australia at an average annual velocity of of .27 m/sec, which is near the .3m/s you calculated. This means they wouldn't need propulsive force. They would only need to give it the occasional nudge to keep it in the current.
Once they reached the equator, they might need some force to get to the North Equatorial gyre (but only for a few hundreds of klicks, not thousands), whose average annual velocity of .13 m/s would then carry them almost to the Gulf of Aden.
I'm thinking that if the Coriolis forces in the ocean are replacing a significant chunk of the propulsive force that you calculated as necessary, then the overall cost per liter would be quite a bit lower. In fact, it would be significantly lower than desalinization.
It seems you have a different definition of EVERY word.
Part of what makes you insane.
Or a fucking idiot.
Take your pick. Both if you like.
What I said was that a sphere was a fairly good estimate for the drag produced by a naturally shaped ice berg (which frequently look like squared off lozenges) much more so than a streamlined boat hull. NOT that they WERE spherical, moron.
But give your propensity for thinking that words and connections not made are there, care to show me where the streamlined boat hull icebergs are jetting around at high speed?
I'm straight, so I'm actually glad about San Francisco.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
There was an article in Popular Mechanics in the early 80s with this idea in it. I think the plan was to bubble air up the trailing edge of the berg to push it along as the tug pulled.
Who is to say the UAE should get this water? Are they making efficient use of it or will it be squandered growing luscious gardens in all those luxurious buildings they have? I didn't think the war over water resources would begin so soon.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
I'm straight, so I'm actually glad about San Francisco.
The gays aren't going to drown, they will move. Right now their concentration in San Francisco improves your odds everywhere else.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
This was the first mission for Salvage One after they returned from the moon!
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Interestingly enough, bringing an entire ice asteroid to a hitherto very dry planet was not considered an ecological disaster waiting to happen...
In those quaint times — the novel is from 1952 — human progress was not deemed "dangerous"...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
Funny how someone might become aggressive and full of contempt when faced with a simple mistake
You give yourself too much credit.
Your original post was literally nothing but aggression.
Maybe the other AC gave you back more aggression than you put out. But it was not in response to just a simple mistake, it was a simple mistake plus your insulting, righteous rhetoric that prompted him.
Shittiness begets shittiness. Keep that in mind next time you decide to go full-shitty.
The UAE will have to be totally evacuated by 2025 by current estimates as it will get quite a bit hotter. In fact it will be too hot for human habitation. Hauling water is simply not an answer. Perhaps they could create some huge spray machines to mist large volumes of ocean water into the air in hope of cloud formation and a dropping of temperature near the ground level. The entire area of northern Africa will probably try to migrate to Europe. The wars that this will cause in some cases have already begun.
Because you need a cold source for condensation, nad honestly, the difference in mean temperatures isn't really that great.
Also, distillation is horrid; the brine is amazingly good at destroying all alloys and plastics.
carbon tax..
Couldn't a changed current in some scenarios help balance the global temp rather than ensure increased warming 100% of the time
How does the UAE plan to stop this ice berg? Maybe run it up on to the beach?
(which is saying something).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cjx4gJFME0
No! I did not suggest that at all! So you are just here to argue and are using nasty little tricks or is it just a memory lapse? I suggested that wind can not be ignored in the situation being considered here were the wind loading is quite extreme and the icebergs follow the wind direction far more than the current.
Do a google image search for "tabular iceberg" and you will get the picture. Wind just cannot be ignored in that situation as distinct from the north Atlantic situation.
https://youtu.be/6cjx4gJFME0
This is damn near identical to the plot of TaleSpin episode 9, "I Only Have Ice For You".
Furries make the internet go.
Considering that I only made one point, and you challenged it, there really is no question that you were pushing the line that wind doesn't matter. I really don't get why you play such silly games. "Gaslighting" is the trendy name for such petty attempts at bullying where you try to get someone to think different thing have happened before isn't it? What a stupid game. "Reading comprehension" indeed - WTF is this shit about trying to find some sort of weakness and pick on people? Are you really the age your username suggests or a petty and destructive teenager? Are you really surrounded by the sort of people where "reading comprehension" is an insult that people will take seriously - and if so why are you picking on them?
I really do not get the point of you jumping on a post to deny the obvious just to start some sort of argument. Is your life really that empty? Have you reached some sort of silly troll goal due to me typing out an indication of how utterly worthless you appear to be?
Go to an iceberg and claim it for the world! Stay there to protect it.
Fucking hippie.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
What about desalinization of sea water?
Wouldn't that be cheaper? At least in the long run?
Oh! I get it! It's not our money they want; it's more climate change!
Since there is a bigger push for curbing CO2 emissions, the plan now is to further reduce reflective surfaces to promote global climate change.
Self-importance and self-indulgence is the root of ALL evil.
The vast density of the knucklehead who wrote this is staggering.
If they take the icebergs, where will the penguins rape and gangbang their mates and practice necrophilia ?
Live near Lake Ontario where our municipal water is pumped from - a limitless supply of water considering it comes from the other 4 Great Lakes too. But hey - people want to live in drought-prone areas and hope the government will come to fix it. Have fun with that.
Here's the instruction manual for this: http://a.co/iddu7Wx
Anyone who feels compelled to broadcast their heterosexuality in a post about icebergs isn't probably all that hetero. Naturally a secret part of him is excited by the prospect of an army of homosexual refugees swarming his town.
Man, you really need that seminar!
Wouldn't a desalinization plant be cheaper?
Also, desalinization moves water from the fluid ocean to land which will then return to the ocean. However, once you melt the iceberg, non-fluid, and the water returns goes to the ocean, it won't be frozen again.
Are they going to create an iceberg to replace the iceberg they take?
Also, if they drag an iceberg to a warm water area, what will happen to the nearby aquatic life that expects warm water? Surely the iceberg is going to have a temperature affect?
Does that %50 to %70 percent cost include restoring the iceberg? This iceberg lasts 5 years. What happens when dozens of countries start doing multiple icebergs? How soon will we be out of icebergs?
I think your cost decrease is making assumptions that are not true.
Why are you wasting so much time on setting up a strawman to attack over such a trivial subject?
Projection now? Pathetic.
You stupid little game is an utter waste of time. Why are you still trying the "gaslighting" to pretend it never happened? Are you really that pathetic? Do you really crave feedback from the target of your pathetic attempt at bullying over something so utterly trivial so much?