Icebound

Dean R. Koontz Icebound

BEFORE…

From The New York Times:

[1]

POLAR ICE PUREST WATER

IN THE WORLD

MOSCOW, Feb. 10—According to Russian scientists, the water constituting the Arctic icecap has a far lower bacteria count than any water we now drink or with which we irrigate crops, a discovery that might make this vast frozen reservoir a valuable resource of the future. Because tapping the polar icecap might be cheaper than any current or foreseeable desalinization process, especially since the water would not have to be purified, some Russian researchers speculate that millions of acres of farmland might be irrigated with melted icebergs in the next decade.

[2]

SCIENTISTS BELIEVE ICEBERGS

COULD PROVIDE FRESH WATER

BOSTON, Sept. 5—Speaking before the annual convention of the American Society of Environmental Engineers, Dr. Harold Carpenter said today that chronic shortages of water in California, Europe, and other regions could be alleviated by a controlled melting of icebergs towed south from the Arctic Circle. Dr. Carpenter's wife and research partner, Dr. Rita Carpenter, said the concerned nations should consider pooling the capital for the necessary research and development — an investment that would, she said, “be repaid a hundredfold within 10 years.”

According to the Carpenters, co-recipients of last year's National Science Foundation Prize, the basic concept is simple. A large iceberg would be “blown loose” from the edge of the icefield and allowed to drift south in natural currents. Later, enormous steel towing cables would be affixed to the berg. A trawler would then tow the ice to a conversion facility at the shore near thirsty farmland. “Because the North Atlantic and North Pacific are cold oceans, perhaps less than 15 percent of the ice would melt before it could be converted to water at the shore and piped to drought-stricken farms,” Dr. Harold Carpenter said.

The Carpenters both cautioned that no one could be certain the idea was workable. “There are still a great many problems to overcome,” Dr. Rita Carpenter said. “Extensive research on the polar icecap…”

[3]

DROUGHT AFFECTS

CALIFORNIA CROPS

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Sept. 20—State Department of Agriculture officials estimate that California's water shortages may have been responsible for as much as a $50 million loss in second-season crops as diverse as oranges, lemons, cantaloupes, lettuce…

[4]

SUFFICIENT RELIEF SUPPLIES

UNAVAILABLE FOR THOUSANDS

STARVING IN DROUGHT

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 5—The director of the United Nations Disaster Relief Office announced that poor harvests in the United States, Canada, and Europe have made it impossible for drought-stricken Africans and Asians to purchase grain and produce from the usually food-rich Western nations. Already, more than 200,000 people have died in…

[5]

SPECIAL U.N. FUND TO SEND

SCIENTISTS TO POLAR ICECAP

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 6—Eleven members of the United Nations today contributed to a unique fund that will pay for a series of scientific experiments on the Arctic icecap. The primary intent of the project will be to study the feasibility of towing huge icebergs south, where they can be tapped for the irrigation of crops.

“It might sound like science fiction,” said one British official, “but since the 1960's, most environmental specialists have come to see the very real potential.” If such a scheme should prove workable, the major food- producing nations might never suffer bad harvests again. Although the icebergs could not be towed into the warm seas of southern Asia and Africa, the entire world would profit by the insured good harvests of the few countries that the project would directly benefit…

[6]

TEAM OF U.N. SCIENTISTS

ESTABLISHES RESEARCH STATION

ON ARCTIC ICEFIELD

THULE, Greenland, Sept. 28—This morning, scientists under the direction of Drs. Harold and Rita Carpenter, co-recipients of this year's Rothschild Prize in earth science, landed on the Arctic icecap between Greenland and Spitsbergen, Norway. They began construction of a research station two miles from the edge of the icefield where they will conduct United Nations-funded studies for at least nine months…

[7]

ARCTIC EXPEDITION TO BLOW LOOSE

PIECE OF POLAR ICECAP TOMORROW

THULE, Greenland, Jan. 14—At midnight tomorrow, scientists at the United Nations-funded Edgeway Station will detonate a series of explosive devices to separate a half-mile-square iceberg from the edge of the winter icecap, just 350 miles off the northeast coast of Greenland. Two United Nations trawlers, equipped with electronic tracking gear are waiting 230 miles to the south, where they will monitor the progress of the “bugged” iceberg.

In an experiment designed to determine if Atlantic currents change substantially in northern regions during the severe Arctic winter…

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