The Scarlet to black, October 1.4, mkpage s

 

A new ice

age begins
in * Iowa

Story and photos by Chris Lower

n interesting fact
about the earth we live
on is that, of all the
water available to us on
the face oi the planet,
only two to three per cent is fresh
water , r . the rest is sea water,

Another potentially useluI fact is
that about 98 percent of this fresh
water is found in the form of ice at
the earth’s poles in glaciers and‘
icebergs. The water round in those
ice terms is oi similar purity to
high-grade distilled water.

The topic of aridization and the
progression of deserts over the
earth has recently been an anxious
topic of conjecture among scienr
tists and topographers, as well as
the national press. Those nations

in the Middle East that have
recently come into world
prominence through their oil
reserves are among the most
acutely sensitive to the problem of
obtaining adequate quantities of
iresh water to support a healthy
agricultural economy when “the
party is r-“cr ”

The Big Boys check in

'rnus, WHEN about 200 people
from all over the world convened
last week in Ames [or the First
International Iceberg Utililation
Conierence, the seemingly
Irivolous topic oi transporting
icebergs around the globe was
elevated to a major challenge, to
be addressed by some of the best
minds that could be assembled on
thetopic. The list at conferees read
likea Who’s Who of glaciology (the
study of snow and ice) and polar
ex 1 ration It also included ex-

technologies

.is :)1

 

'desalinating

and satellite mapping. Most
Middle Eastern countries were
represented, as well as most
European countries Organizations
from the US. included NASA, the
Jet Propulsion Labs, the Army, the
Navy, l.T,T,, General Electric,
General Motors and many other
government and corporate
agencies.

(A polar expert from the U.S.
Coast Guard gave a lengthy talk
about the Coast Guard’s research
on icebergs, which has included
such indignities as bombing them,
painting them, and otherwise
trying to destroy them, The Coast
Guard has discovered that
icebergs are pretty tough).

AS IT turns out, the idea of
towing intact icebergs into warmer
climes is not a new one~a small
iceberg was actually towed to the
coast of Peru Irom the Antarctic
around the turn of this century.
The idea had not received serious
attention in recent years, however,
until Prince Mohammed AlrFaisal
of Saudi Arabia caught wind of the
idea a few years ago and come
missioned some polar experts to
determine the feasibility oi towing
icebergs to the Middle East, The
results oi this study were en-
couraging, and thus was born the
First Int'l Conference on Iceberg
Utilization, sponsored cheiﬂy by
Prince Faisal himself,

it was mainly as a publicity stunt
that a small chunk (2,000 lbs.) of
iceberg was picked up from the
Arctic and flown into the con-
ference, where it was used to chill
conierees drinks. Lian iceberg is to
he used as a viable alternative to
seawater, ‘the

smallest iceberg 'worth towing

The end oi the line: A small piece oi a 10.000 year old iceberg
moments beiore being eaten by the author.

 

irom Antarctica is generally
computed to be around 100 million
cubic meters. Right now, a cubic
meter of desalinated seawater
runs about $0 cents, whereas
icewater from a large berg has
been projected to cost about .50
cents per cubic meter. One-third to
one-hall oi an iceberg might be lost
through melting in transit,
depending on whether or not any
insulation is used.

More than you ever
wanted to
know about icebergs

THE IDEAL berg for towing,
irom an engineer’s point of view, is
what is called a “tabular” iceberg.
This is a flat platelike iceberg
found primarily in the Antarctic.

These bergs weigh an average of
100 million tons. Arctic icebergs
have practically been dismissed
from consideration due to their
small average size and irregular
shape, The ideal berg for towing
purposes would be about two to
four miles long and about a mile
wide.

Needless to say, there are many
problems to overcome before an
iceberg transport becomes a
reality. At the present time, it is
hard to probe the underlying
structure of a large iceberg, which
could contain fissures or cracks
that would jeopardize its structural
integrity Large icebergs will be
worth live to ten million dollars,
and to have one break up in transit
would be a [inancial disaster for a
towing project. Thus, reliable

As it turns out, the idea of towing intact'
icebergs into warmer dimes is not a new
one—a small iceberg was actually towed
to the coast of Perufram the Antarctic
around the tum of this century.

' Monsieur Paul-Emile victor, who is the head oi France's polar
expedition team, is one oi the most likely candidates lor heading up
Prince Faisal's premier iceberg towing project. which the Prince

forsees with

the next ﬁve years,

methods (or examining and
choosing transportable icebergs
must be developed in order to
insure successiul iceberg
utilization.

THE OPTIMUM speed for
towing an iceberg has been
computed to be a very slow one
knot (Nautical mile per hour).
Above this speed, the forces of
drag in the water become exr
cessive. Thus. a trip irom the
Antarctic to Saudi Arabia might
take seven or eight months,
making insulation an
important consideration. (Even
though one knot is very slow, it
would take about 22 hours for a
large iceberg to slow down from 1
knot to onetenth of a knot. This
will obviously call {or some special
provisions [or maintaining open
seaways in the path of the berg)

There are even sticky legal
questions which will plague
iceberg developers of the future. If
Antarctica is owned by no nation,
who owns the icebergs? icebergs
have traditionally been Viewed
only as a liability and a threat to
navigation, but almost overnight
they have disgarded this
reputation and are being seen as
valuable natural resources. Right
now it looks like the Arabs have a
lead on the rest oi the world in
exploiting icebergs as a natural
resource, but chances are tloubtiill
that the rest of the world Will Sit
back and let them establish an
iceberg cal-tel it iceberg lowage
becomes a practical answer to the
world water shortage. iWhat could
be more humiliating than an
iceberga embargo? '"r‘hen again,
the’ iceberg might just turn out to
be'Prlnce Fa'sai s to elephant.

 

