This seems to be a big concern at the moment because of global warming,would it be possible for us to start projects now to divert sea water onto land,there are many millions of uninhabited land on the coast off Africa where big holes [natural and manmade] could be used to divert sea water,also dry riverbeds unused mines,even pumping sea water to places,could not the brains of the world come up with a solution.
2007-03-02 00:06:18 · 12 answers · asked by smiler 4 in Environment
I like your thinking! Although that idea may be partly impractical it's the thinking and IDEAS that count. As this interglaciation proceeds, icemelt will do what it will, sea levels will rise - but in some cases maybe we humans can make something useful from the phenomenon. Plan ahead! When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!
Old geology maps - you got me thinking about the Colorado River in the US west, and what is now Baja California, and the Gulf of California. Old lore had masted ships (or at least one) buried upriver into what was once an inland sea where the river drains the western continent. What are the prospects for Great Salt Lake, the Salton Sea? Couldn't energy be generated by tidal action up the river?
Fresh water floats so to speak upon salt water, so couldn't dams be different from what we think of today? Why aren't we using the tides similarly to windpower power generation? That's being done elsewhere on small scale.
Netherlands has floating communties. That suggests models for other lowlands areas - I suggest beginning with New Orleans. Mexico used to have floating communites and agricultural lands termed chinampas prior climate change.
Enough of that, the lesson is that we can take advantage of what we have, make old things new - and better, with today's technology.
(Not to mention that it's outright stupid to think that humans can alter geology - it's what we do with what we have that makes the difference.)
2007-03-02 03:35:28 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sea water has a lot of soil content. If this is directly diverted onto land, the surrounding land will get a high salt content and thus become barren. Also, these salts make sea water unfit for human and animal consumption. So, before directing the sea water we will have to desalinate it, which is a costly process.
2007-03-02 08:11:06 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
It definitely is a problem along parts of the coast in the UK, especially in the east of the country http://www.happisburgh.org.uk/ Think idea now is to let the sea into areas that are no of great importance and try and protect the major towns No doubt this could be done in other countries
2007-03-02 13:44:44 · answer #3 · answered by Shynney 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You could pipe a lot of water to Death Valley in California which is below sea level but that would be a drop in the bucket compared to the melting of the ice caps. Interestingly, creating huge man-made lakes could tie up a lot of seawater (as rain) but that would mean a loss of useful land. There is no such simple solution that would satisfy everyone.
2007-03-02 08:43:47 · answer #4 · answered by Kes 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If the rising sea level is caused by global warming, you don't have to worry about water rerouting, there is no way to reroute so much water.
You see, glaciers contain not only water, they also contain a lot of carbon dioxide, that is released into the atmosphere as the ice melts. So it means that we are sitting on a powderkeg with a lit torch. If enough of the glacier ice melts, we will pass a point of no return at which the newly released carbon dioxide causes stronger greenhouse effect, which then causes further glacier melting and further CO2 release.
2007-03-02 09:18:51 · answer #5 · answered by Freakasso 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The volume of water that would increase would be much much higher than the volume of all holes and mines.
Just a 1cm rise over the whole surface area of the oceans (510,000,000 sq km) is a staggering amount of water. It's over 5,100,000,000,000,000 litres.
If you think that 70% of the the earth is water, then we need a lot of space on land to fit it in.
2007-03-02 08:28:26 · answer #6 · answered by cp 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Water always go down, so you can't divert it. And creating new lakes (big holes?) seems a bit too much for the technology we have right now.
Pumping is too expensive, so 600 million people have problems to find just a glass of water every day. (10% of world population)
Seawater is not drinkable, desalinizers are extremely expensive.
If you have a good idea, please tell it to WHO because the world need it.
2007-03-02 08:15:11 · answer #7 · answered by scientific_boy3434 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
What arrogance to even think that we can control the oceans...While you are thinking about it you had better come up with a plan to stop the wind from blowing too. Ohh also we need an idea to partially block the sun since it is a factor in all of this.
2007-03-02 10:30:52 · answer #8 · answered by dennis s 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's just way too much water. You'd have to build thousands of reservoirs and dams to hold it in. It would cost trillions of dollars. And dams don't last forever.
Clever idea, just not practical.
2007-03-02 09:17:19 · answer #9 · answered by Bob 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Keep thinking- that is what we need- ideas. Technology will follow. Like my machines that remove CO2 and other harmful gasses from the upper atmosphere
2007-03-02 08:40:27 · answer #10 · answered by RayM 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋