Pull the ice from the North Pole to Africa

A group of French experts have successfully implemented a model of dragging a giant iceberg from the North Atlantic to northwest Africa, a realistic project that will help solve the severe drought problem in the continent, Physorg said.

The 70s of the last century, Georges Mougin, then a graduate engineer came up with a huge idea. These are floating ice sheets in the North Atlantic Ocean that can be tied and pulled south to areas of severe drought such as the Sahel in West Africa. Mougin received support from the Arab prince but the experts at the time mocked Mougin's idea and the final plan was suspended.

In 2009, a French software company called Dassault Systemes reviewed Mougin's idea and suggested that the idea might be feasible and contacted him asking to model the whole idea on a computer. . After completing the model, the team's 15 engineers concluded it was possible to pull an ice sheet from the surrounding sea.

A 30-million-ton ice sheet could supply half a million Africans with fresh water within a year. (Photo: Trevor Williams)

Newfoundland (near Canada) to the Canary Islands off the northwestern coast of Africa for a period of 5 months, however, the cost will be approximately 10 million USD.

In the identical realistic simulation model, the iceberg is selected, first covered with a protective coat to prevent melting; it will then be connected to a tug moving at 1,852 km / hr (calculated the resistance of the ocean currents). In the model experiment, the ice sheet to the destination will lose 38% of the total weight of 7 tons.

Of course the actual project will pull a much larger iceberg. Experts estimate that an ice sheet of 30 million tons could provide half a million fresh water for a year.

Scientists also consider the problem of transporting water from sea ice to the victims of drought. The entire huge cost for such a project, estimated to include the cost of a 5-month ice sheet protective coat, fuel oil for tugs, related manpower and ultimately distribution costs. Fresh water from the coast to take place in each locality in the drought area.

Scientists say there are about 40,000 ice sheets out of the Arctic ice cap every year. A small part of that iceberg was worth the time and cost of pulling them to drought areas, such as the current Horn of Africa (East Africa) region .

Mougin engineer is 86 years old and has been raising funds for the actual project.