[HN Gopher] Norfolk sand: Has a colossal experiment worked?
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Norfolk sand: Has a colossal experiment worked?
Author : asplake
Score : 42 points
Date : 2021-10-23 07:24 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.bbc.co.uk)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.bbc.co.uk)
| binarymax wrote:
| Really interesting! It's common to see s/groins/groynes/[0]
| installed on many UK beaches, which helps when the shore is also
| small rock/pebble. But this seems more dynamic and natural, I
| hope it works in the long term!
|
| [0] https://www.seawallprosfl.com/wp-
| content/uploads/2017/04/max... and
| https://www.seawallprosfl.com/ways-to-prevent-beach-erosion/
| jfk13 wrote:
| > It's common to see groins[0] installed on many UK beaches
|
| In the UK, we prefer to call them groynes. A groin is something
| quite different...
| binarymax wrote:
| haha oops! Corrected.
| gpvos wrote:
| The article notes that this is the first time this kind of thing
| has been done _in the UK._ And indeed, the Netherlands has been
| doing it since about a decade:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_engine (also mentions the
| Bacton gas terminal, as in the article).
| OJFord wrote:
| It also notes two Dutch companies involved in (and
| 'mastermind'ing) the project.
| brazzy wrote:
| Germany has been doing it for its North Frisian islands sind
| 1972. The key words: _has been doing_. It works, but in most
| cases the sea keeps taking away the sand and you keep having to
| put it back.
| ars wrote:
| > the sea keeps taking away the sand
|
| Where does it go?
| wbl wrote:
| The Frisian Islands grow on the lee and shrink on the
| windward side. As a result they are gradually moving
| eastward.
| __coaxialcabal wrote:
| Mostly to the bottom, but some remains suspended in a
| saline dihydrogen monoxide solution.
| ncmncm wrote:
| The ocean is big.
| alkonaut wrote:
| > two million cubic tonnes
|
| The British really do have the weirdest units.
| a1369209993 wrote:
| Cubic tonnes _are_ technically a real and valid (SI even, ish)
| unit of measurement (for example the fundamental evaporation
| rate of a black hole via hawking radiation is on the order of
| 100 million cubic tonnes per second), but I think in this case
| they 're just outright wrong.
| jl6 wrote:
| What does cubic mass mean?
| chrismcb wrote:
| Interestingly this may be a typo as the article mentions cubic
| meters. But wiki says cubic tons is a measure of volume that is
| obsolete in UK and mostly used in the US
| ncmncm wrote:
| It would be better if they had used olivine sand. That would pull
| CO2 out of the air, _and_ protect the coast.
|
| We are going to have to be doing that, by the millions of tons.
| But it will be pointless if we continue pumping as much CO2 into
| the air.
| wolverine876 wrote:
| Who pays for these fixes to greenhouse gas emissions? Surely it's
| the greenhouse gas emitters?
| m-i-l wrote:
| Key point for me was "It's not a permanent solution, however -
| the sand is expected to last for about 15 years." It doesn't say
| whether the full PS20m spend will be needed every 15 years
| though, but it sounds like it just buys more time to move the
| critical infrastructure further inland.
| jl6 wrote:
| Here's hoping that they can close the gas terminal by 2035 and
| not replace it.
| lvs wrote:
| > Bacton Gas Terminal was getting ever closer to the cliff edge
| as the coast eroded
|
| That was a problem that was getting close to solving itself. Now
| I understand why so much effort was expended.
| mrfusion wrote:
| We should make some islands with this technology. Maybe it could
| help solve the housing crisis.
| mrfusion wrote:
| It's weird, in Florida we do this almost every year. It's not a
| big deal.
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