5 ms·
I read an article about this a few weeks ago. Basically it's not possible because of the amount of energy required to pump the water. It's a HUUUUGE amount of
by satellitec4t 10y ago
I read an article about this a few weeks ago. Basically it's not possible because of the amount of energy required to pump the water. It's a HUUUUGE amount of water. Sea levels are rising 3mm/year, which is ... hmm
Surface area of Earth = 510 million km^2 = 5.10e14 m^2.
~70% is water, so 3.57e14 m^2.
Multiply that by 3mm (3e-3 m) = 1.07e12 m^3.
1.07 trillion tonnes of water. Per year.
Or 33,907 tonnes per second!
- mrfusion 10y agoInteresting analysis! Actually the Hoover dam streams 2000 tons per second [1]. So we may not be far off! Basically build 15 Hoover dams worth of nuclear plants in Antarctica and their plumbing. Expensive? Yes. But also quite doable especially compared to cost of losing coastal cities. 1. https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/ReclamationDamsIrrigationProjectsAndPowerplants/Hoover_Dam.html https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/ReclamationDamsIrrigationProje...
- satellitec4t 10y agoBut the hoover dam just drops the water, what, a few hundred meters? We'd need to transport the water many km from the oceans to the middle of the antarctic continent, and lift it a couple km, to the tops of the glacier. So it's way more than 15 hoover dams.