OT iceberg power

[aostling]

I did not read the article, but it MIGHT be a proposal that uses currents to do the moving. Then all you need to do is nudge it as a tug moves a large ship.

Dan

That's the idea. Here is a paragraph from the article describing the strategy.

The goal will be to follow the Antarctic Circumpolar Current eastward and then, at the right moment near Gough Island, deploy full force to switch over to the Benguela Current, which will bring the iceberg upward toward South Africa’s western coast. “If we hit the wrong current, that’s it,” Sloane says. “Then we’ll have to call up the Aussies and say, ‘Do you want to buy an iceberg?’ ”

[lakeside53]

but AK, they are a heck of lot harder to catch! Would keep us warm trying though.

[A.K. Boomer]

Woah - yeah icebergs, iv also thought about hummingbirds like with their wings - like if we could just tap into that power source somehow...


I know there not as big but there's lots more of them im thinking...

[J Tiers]

Yep, started slow, but finished fast. Just a little one though.

No Sailors here.

You dont "tow" it to where you need it. You push it to where you need it. JR

On the river, yes. And they still call them "towboats", the assembled barges are known as the "tow".

Never heard of a situation where you rig a line over the stern, make it fast to another vessel, and proceed, with the line causing the other vessel to follow, as being "pushing". It must be California Navy lingo.

[gellfex]

So, there is a risk of it shifting orientation, or even "turning turtle" at some point. A pretty good eye would need to be kept on that tendency. If the melting were to release a part of the berg, the shift might be pretty sudden.

The fun starts about 1:50. My son is a professional ice climbing guide.

[JRouche]

No Sailors here.

You dont "tow" it to where you need it. You push it to where you need it. JR

[J Tiers]

Icebergs have (supposedly) 9/10 of themselves under water. OK, that is probably close, I do not recall the expansion of ice vs water. take it as correct.

Now, while you tow/push/propel this big mass of ice along, the underside is melting. Probably faster than the topside, as "warmer" seawater may melt it faster than "warmer" air.

So, you are losing mass from under faster, and the underside is becoming lighter, but also lower in net buoyancy, since ice is lighter than water. The berg may have it's balance changed. The bottom (and top) may be irregular, and may not melt at a constant rate, both on the trip, and afterward, as you extract fresh water from it.

While it is being moved, the leading part will probably melt faster than the rest, because the ice has new warmer water "scouring" it. That will surely alter the balance, removing buoyancy from the leading portion.

So, there is a risk of it shifting orientation, or even "turning turtle" at some point. A pretty good eye would need to be kept on that tendency. If the melting were to release a part of the berg, the shift might be pretty sudden.

I do not think I'd want to be on a nearby ship if a few million tons of iceberg decide to "suddenly" shift or invert. While the mass would preclude a really fast move, it would likely be faster than any ship could get out of the way. Any ship tied up to it would risk being carried under. And the local "splash wave" would no doubt be pretty impressive.

[alanganes]

Never mind frozen viruses. Didn't you see John Carpenter's "The Thing"? You just don't know if you are thawing out a frozen alien.
Then you got problems.

Apparently in 1965, three icebreaker ships were used to push a 2 million cubic meter iceberg near McMurdo station in Antarctica. I think they only pushed a few miles so it would not block the supply ships.

.
Coming at it from another direction was the plan to essentially build an iceberg to use as an aircraft carrier...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Habakkuk

[darryl]

I can see the movie now- two divers go down and magnetically attach a box of some sort to the side of the berg. Then someone topside uses a remote control to 'drive' the iceberg through pirate-infested waters to a port near New York. Just when they think they're home free, one of the divers comes down with a mysterious disease. Everyone hustles to push the berg back out to sea, at which point it starts to head for Miami. Amid creepy music and dire looks flashing all around, the movie ends.

Ok, just a mind excursion- but I certainly have thought about ancient ice harboring nasty viruses. Things wouldn't get back to normal until you had a vaccine

[boslab]

I read that icebergs ( which apart from being made of ice I know bugger all about) don’t play nice in water, they roll, move wonky and all sorts, plus the buggers would be melting, sticking an engine on it might not be as stupid as it sounds, would be funny though, captain of an iceberg
mark

[reggie_obe]

It's pretty simple... Ignoring "how to attach", whatever you are towing it with has to have more power than the forces from currents, friction, wind etc. Good luck with that.

Easy, rocket motors. Surplus engines from the Apollo program, just as they did on the TV show Salvage 1 starring Andy Griffith.

[lakeside53]

It's pretty simple... Ignoring "how to attach", whatever you are towing it with has to have more power than the forces from currents, friction, wind etc. Good luck with that.

[alanganes]

Ocean liners and tankers are still under power while the tugs guide them. Drilling rigs have a skeleton type structure that doesn't present a lot of surface area to the water.

In addition to all of that, while I don't know what an off shore drilling platform weighs and I'm too lazy to Google it, I think it's a safe bet to think that the largest of them weighs a lot less than 125 million tons.

[reggie_obe]

That does not sound right. If that were so, ocean liners could not be towed. They tow everything including those huge oil drilling platforms.

I am sure some large tugs would be needed.

Ocean liners and tankers are still under power while the tugs guide them. Drilling rigs have a skeleton type structure that doesn't present a lot of surface area to the water.

[Paul Alciatore]

That does not sound right. If that were so, ocean liners could not be towed. They tow everything including those huge oil drilling platforms.

I am sure some large tugs would be needed.

When they tried to tow an iceberg the tow rope went taut and coriolis forces from the earths rotation took over. The tugboat was pointing straight ahead as it rotated slowly about the iceberg!