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Antarctic icebergs as a fresh water resource

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2009

W. F. Weeks  and
W. J. Campbellf
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Abstract

Summary:In a recent study (Weeks and Campbell, in press), we made a rather complete examination of the idea that icebergs could advantageously be used as a source of fresh water. The origin of the general idea of transporting icebergs is obscure; it may date from the 1850's when ice was transported from Alaska to California as a commercial venture. The current revival of the idea, in particular as applied to the water problems of southern California, can be credited to John Issacs of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography (Burt, 1956). However no critical evaluation was ever published. We initially undertook the present study because our intuition “told” us that the idea was untenable and we thought that we could easily prove that this was the case, thereby laying the idea to rest. Our intuition proved to be wrong and we now believe that the idea is, indeed, highly attractive when applied to certain locations in the Southern Hemisphere. This note briefly outlines our approach to analyzing the problem and our results

Type
Articles
Information
Polar Record , Volume 16 , Issue 104 , May 1973 , pp. 661 - 665
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1973

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References

Burt, J. C. 1956. Iceberg water for California? Science Digest, Vol 39, No 2, p l–4.Google Scholar
Clawson, M. and others. 1969. The economic impracticability of desalting sea water for large-scale agriculture. By Clawson, M., Landsberg, H. H., and Alexander, L. T.. Science, Vol 164, No 3884, p 1141–48.Google Scholar
F., Weeks. W. and Campbell, W. J. (in press). Icebergs as a fresh water source: an appraisal. Journal of Glaciology, Vol 12.Google Scholar