[HN Gopher] Norfolk sand: Has a colossal experiment worked? ___________________________________________________________________ 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. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2021-10-24 23:01 UTC)