OTish: Sailing icebergs to Africa ?

[Jethro_uk]

Why not ?

Mount a sail and crew on an iceberg and even at 1 metre/second it could reach a suitable dock in Africa ?

[Richard]

It would have to be huge to sink Africa. The Titanic would still dwarf it in disaster terms though.

[Chris Hogg]

Not a new idea and it's not that easy. You have to cope with the Coriolis forces amongst others.

[Brian Gaff]

Not a new idea, the Saudis considered it many years ago but there are two issues. 1 the melt below the water line destabilises the berg often toppling it into another stable state, and then where is your sail? Besides the berg is lacking one thing, a rudder.

The original plan was to tow it of course but they would need around 20 tugs to make a good speed. Brian

[Jethro_uk]

The idea was to plonk a sail (or sails) on top of the berg.

As with sails, it could be affixed somehow ?

Surely wind power mitigates that ?

[alan_m]

I think Brian is correct, icebergs flip and the top becomes the side or bottom.

[T i m]

Massive steerable traction kite? That could be attached anywhere on / around the berg and controlled remotely?

Assuming Africa is roughly downwind of where the berg is of course.

Coincidentally, I played a small (electronic) part in a display that was going to initially shown to some Saudi important people and then put on public display.

It was basically a 3d graphic that depicted the flow of water between some (or a couple at least) de-salination plants on the coast and though pipelines to some big cities. They had 'running LED's' that showed all the various directions the water could flow, depending on production and load etc.

I don't know if it was already built at that time, being built or just a pipedream ... ;-(

Cheers, T i m

[Reentrant]

That's (just) predated by Jerry Pournelle's 1972 short story "Power to the People" in the "High Justice" collection.

It's a science fiction story; they use strap-on nuclear-powered engines to move the iceberg.

[Harry Bloomfield]

T i m formulated on Tuesday :

Sulzer?

[G r o g]

Apart from any other considerations the crew would need hot food,sleeping facilities, toilets, fresh water (yes I know it's an iceberg but you really don't want to be consuming it) blah blah blah. The maritime legal requirements alone would make the idea a non-floater surely?

[Jethro_uk]

I was envisaging a minimum crew :) Just drop a portacabin or two on teh top ...

Maritime regulations can be amended, if required ...

Thanks for all the replies guys ... I guess there more complexity than there seems at first. However, that said, I wonder if the lack of push on the idea stems from a lack of real desire by the developed world to see a more stable (and therefore less exploitable) Africa ?

[Chris Hogg]

[Tim Streater]

Unlikely. A more stable Africa would be far better for trade, which ceases in conflict zones (e.g. you can't get insurance).

[Jethro_uk]

I don't think we're talking "trade" which involves a fair price. We're talking "plunder" (by the locals). Blood diamonds being an example.

If towing the water to Africa is problematic, why not a few enormous f*ck- off nuclear reactors powering massive desalination plants ?

(Anyone read "Prisoners of Geography" ?

dp/1783961414

[Richard]

Before doing anything to disrupt the balance of nature, perhaps this needs to be addressed:

[Josh Nack]

It's already addressing itself. Every single country has falling birth rates now except those whose birth rates are right down in the noise.

[Josh Nack]

I hadn't but have read 25% of it now. Thanks for that.

[Tim Streater]

There's no such thing as "the balance of nature". There isn't and there never has been.

[Richard]

Well, let's see how the industrial powerhouses of these countries benefit the world as a whole. Please hold your breath for this one.

[Vir Campestris]

One of the references in the paper is

Burt, J. C. 1956[b]. Iceberg water for California? Science Digest, Vol.

39, No. 2, p. 1?4.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Pournelle had read it.

Andy