A polar bear would crash straight through 10cms-thick styrofoam. Much thinner sheets, blocks or even granules would suffice for albedo purposes.
The idea of using plastic or biomaterials to reinforce ice is perhaps more promising. Compartively low volumes of fibres provide disproportionate reinforcement. The concept of 'pykrete' is based on this principle Wind driven ice clearance is a major factor in rapid loss seasons, and better-integrated sea ice is more resistant to wind clearance. A On Mar 27, 2013 6:56 PM, "Russell Seitz" <[email protected]> wrote: > > Amount of styrofoam required to stably float a polar bear & cubs : ~ 3 > m3 ~ = a 6 m hexagon ~ 10 cm thick > > Weight of such a strong styrofoam platform 100 kg > > Area " " " ' ~ 25 sq. meters > > Number per square kilometer ~ 40,000 > > Weight of styrofoam per km2 4,000 tones > > Area off summer ice loss in last decade ~ 3,000,000 -4,000,000 km2 > > Mass of styrofoam required for polar bear friendly replacement of lost > ice : ~12- 16 billion tonnes > > Mass of needed polystyrene as percentage of annual world petroleum > production : 300- 400 % > > Cost at $130 bbl : > $10,000,000,000,000, plus installation. > > Cost per polar bear: ~ fifty million dollars > > Since beavers transform many hectares of moderate albedo forest into > blackwater ponds, shooting *Castor faber* and * Castro canandensi*s may > therefore hold more promise in constraining albedo loss than conserving *Ursus > marinus,* > > > Sorry. > > On Wednesday, March 27, 2013 6:27:52 AM UTC-4, denskee wrote: >> >> My suggestion is to use the waste plastic which is generated at an >> alarming rate, to manufacture rafts in a hexagonal or octagonal shape, each >> linked to it's immediate neighbour at the corners with a coupling. This >> coupling will enable each raft to move slightly independantly to allow for >> wave movement. The upper surface of each raft would need to be either >> white or silver to reflect sunlight, much as the ice does. Such rafts >> should be large enough to support creatures such as sealions and seals. >> Polar bears might be too much of a stretch. There would therefore need to >> be an occasional raft left out of the pattern to enable such creatures to >> enter and leave the sea. >> If a number of identical moulds were created around the planet each >> country with hopefully a number of such moulds could produce these rafts >> before the waste left the country, and conceivably shipping companies >> could convey them to particularly North polar countries where they could >> be assembled into large rafts. >> Already this plastic waste is shipped around the planet, why not have it >> shipped as an end, and particularly useful, product ? >> A similar product could be manufactured form this waste to basically be >> anchored on the ground where the ice has already receeded, and could be >> made perhaps in reinforced sheet form, to enable it to withstand weather >> extremes. Whether those countries within the arctic circle would allow such >> masking of their territory, is another matter. >> >> > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "geoengineering" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
