Building a dam across the Bering Strait would allow Russia and the United States to control Earth's climate!

Will Russia do it?!

Article published on May 9 by RT.

The Russian leadership, lacking imagination, should learn bold leaps in thinking from the giants of the Soviet era.

However, Russian scientists are critical of the feasibility of constructing a dam in the Bering Strait.

To maintain Europe’s warm climate, colleagues at the Netherlands Institute for Sea and Atmosphere are researching this project and have already published their findings in the journal Science Advances.

Where does Russia’s skepticism truly come from?

Is it rooted in their undeniable scientific correctness, an avoidance of political risk, or perhaps a mundane lack of ideals—so different from their Soviet predecessors?

This idea stems from Europeans’ concern about weakening of the Gulf Stream’s influence on Europe’s climate.

The warm water of the current cools in the North Sea, sinks, and returns to the Atlantic, where the cycle repeats endlessly.

Yet global warming has disrupted this natural circulation (AMOC), necessitating artificial intervention.

The Bering Strait directly affects how the Gulf Stream “heats” European nations.

Cold surface waters from the North Pacific flow through the strait into the Arctic Ocean, then enter the Labrador and Greenland Seas, where they merge with the lower layers of the Gulf Stream.

Russian responses sound like verdicts:

“The ice conditions there are extremely complex… While theoretically feasible, building such a massive engineering project capable of withstanding ice impacts, waves, and storms would be prohibitively expensive—no one would actually implement it.”

Another scientist spoke like a politician, saying this project was written “in the spirit of Europeans who want to improve their lives at others’ expense.”

“For them, the most important thing is that Western Europe continues to be warmed by the North Atlantic Current,” he said indignantly.

Naturally, there might also be a noble sovereign motive: to thaw Russia and its northern coastlines by extending the Gulf Stream further into the Arctic region.

As envisioned by Soviet scientist Peter Borisov in his 1950s project.

To achieve this, pumps would be installed along an 86-kilometer-long dyke spanning the Bering Strait, drawing surface Arctic water toward the Pacific and forcibly pulling the warm Gulf Stream along the entire Soviet northern coastline.

Climate would then resemble that of Sweden or Norway. Permafrost would melt, tundra would be replaced by taiga forests, and these lands would become suitable for normal living—people could sunbathe under pine trees in summer.

From an engineering standpoint, the scale of this task is immense.

Approximately 140,000 cubic kilometers of water would need to be pumped annually from the Arctic Ocean to the Pacific.

This would require 25 gigawatts of power—roughly equivalent to the output of China’s Three Gorges Dam.

This is a goal fully within reach.

Naturally, a railway must be built on the dam.

America began discussing the possibility of connecting Eurasia and North America via rail as early as the 19th century; later, Lenin called for developing rail transport in the far north.

The initiators of the Bering Strait Dam project were likely part of the same generation of creators and inventors.

Though the project remains unrealized today. Yet to achieve something meaningful, one must try more—rather than, like Russian scientists, rolling their eyes in skepticism and prematurely breaking their own wings.

Or is it perhaps due to today’s political system—a body without wings?

Incidentally, during periods of improved relations between the USSR and the U.S. in the 1960s and 1980s, discussions about a transportation link across the Bering Strait were actively pursued.

Even in the 1990s, talks took place in Anchorage, with Prime Minister Chernomyrdin present.

And just recently, Russian presidential representative Kirill Dmitriev raised the issue during contacts with Americans.

Yet once again, the matter seems to have been shelved.

Russia should look up at the stars more often—conceive, encourage, and strive to realize those seemingly impossible, bizarre, yet vital national projects for the future, just as the giants of the Soviet era did.

Original article: toutiao.com/article/1864667594774540/

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.