The National Advisor Bureau Limited in UAE has a challenging plan that is aimed at slowing down climate change significantly in the region by bringing in cold air that can cause rainstorm all the year round.
And how that cold air will reach the region?
By bringing an iceberg near to the shores of the Arabian Sea!
The Idea
This idea was first proposed by some French scientists to Saudi Arabia in 1975 but the idea failed to be executed because of some technical reasons.
The iceberg will be dragged from Antarctica and it will be kept along the Arabian Gulf where the average temperature is 26 degrees Celsius year round.
The entire project will cost between $100-150 million dollars and the iceberg should measure two kilometres by 500 metres as only then it will be economically beneficial.
The test project is to be carried by Abdulla Alshehi later this year
He is the founder and managing director of the National Advisor Bureau Limited. NABL is a firm that works in the area of energy generation and recycling.
The cost of towing an iceberg from Antarctica is estimated to be around 80$ million dollars. This iceberg will be dragged to either Cape Town in South Africa or Perth in Australia
To keep it from melting a metal belt will be constructed around the iceberg before dragging the block across the ocean using a boat.
Also see: In Pics: How India’s Sixth Biggest City, Chennai, Ran Out Of Water
Benefits of this iceberg after reaching its destination
- Water harvesting
This block of iceberg is expected to provide millions of liters of drinking water to the Emirates. Chunks from this block will be chopped off and kept in giant tanks before being processed and filtered.
- Rains
It is highly expected that the iceberg will cause a significant change in the weather pattern. The stationed iceberg will give out extremely cold air that will cause rainfall in the arid region and will help local agriculture to grow and subsequent rain harvesting.
- Attraction to tourists
Alshehi is of the opinion that the presence of the iceberg can boost tourism and generate revenue through it. This can establish the concept of ‘glacial tourism’.
- Reduced desalination and its consequent ills
Desalination of salted water pumps a big amount of brine water in to the Gulf which makes the salinity of sea water too high for even fishes to survive. This results in killing the marine life in the Arabian Sea.
Hence, bringing the iceberg near the gulf will keep the UAE from desalinating the sea water for a long time.
Economically friendly
Bringing the iceberg that will provide fresh water and natural rain for years will be much more economically cheaper than desalinating the sea water.
This project can be a huge success in terms of providing water to a generally arid area and combating climate change for a while. However, what after those five to ten years?
This plan will provide the local population with fresh water but still we need to find ways to reduce climate change!
Sources: Daily mail, Euronews, Businesstech, Arabian business
Image credits: Google images
Find the blogger at @kumar_darshna
Recommendation: Watch: 21 Major Cities Might Run Out Of Water; India Has Only 5 Years To Act
