The field of invention:

The present invention relates to the usage of unconventional sources of fresh water and it makes it possible to create the artificial icebergs with proportions up to 400*400*200 and deliver them to regions of the world with fresh water shortage. The invention is based on the concept of creating artificial icebergs from pure water that has been developed by Doctor of Geology Glotov V. E.

Prior art:

At the moment, there is no technology in the world that would enable to create artificial icebergs as sources of fresh water at relatively low costs.

Description of invention:

It is well known that water resources are unevenly distributed over the earth land area. This unevenness will increase as the earth's population grows and the climate warms further. The climate changes will result in the shortage of fresh water in Central, South, East and South-East Asia. At the same time, geomorphological and paleogeographic data (1) allow us to judge about significant increase in groundwater resources in the zone of active water exchange zone and water content of rivers in case of climate warming in high latitudes, the North-Eastern outskirts of Eurasia included. In particular, the natural conditions of the North-East of Russia allow this region to specialize in the supply of fresh high- quality drinking water to the countries of South-East Asia.

The general information about the region. The North-East of Russia (NER) is a predominantly mountainous country, and geographically it is the peninsula of Eurasia, washed by the seas of the Pacific and Arctic oceans (Fig. 1).

The Verkhoyansk Range is its natural boundary westerly. The total area of the region (excluding Kamchatka Peninsula) is about 2.2 million km2. The population is not more than 300 thousand people, i.e. the population density is about 1 person per 7 km2. The prospects for increasing permanent residents are not far-reaching here, because the harsh natural conditions of the region, its remoteness from densely populated and economically developed economic areas do not attract people to become permanent residents. The industrial development of water resources is possible in shifts.

Fig.1. The hydrographic scheme of the North-East of Russia: 1- the administrative border of the republic, autonomous okrug/area , regions; 2-proposed terminals for loading tankers with drinking water and points for creating artificial icebergs, including 1 - Yansko-Tauysky; 2-Olsky, 3-Yamsky, 4- Gizhiginsky, 5-Parensky.

The high-latitude location of the region and the increased ice content of the seas surrounding the NER results in a very cold climate. The average annual air temperature does not rise above -2.5°C. The duration of the cold period of the year, when the average daily temperature is below 0°C, is equal to 7-8 months with an average winter temperature not higher than -14°C. Under these conditions, the permafrost is widely developed in the territory.

Fresh water resources. The fresh waters fed by rain, melting snow, ice mounds, intracranial ice, are concentrated in surface watercourses, the seasonal thaw layer, taliks of river valleys, and, to a lesser extent, in seasonal ice mounds and sub-frozen horizons. When the lakes' distribution and swampiness of mountain areas is less than 0.1%, the water supply of the region can be judged by the volume of river flow into the sea, since the surface and groundwater flows in the cryolithozone mountain areas are uniform (Table 1).

Table 1. The volume of average annual water flow in the Arctic and Pacific oceans (4)

Thus, in this region the fresh water total flow into the oceans comprises 562.8 thousand m3. For a comparative assessment of these data, let us note that one permanent modern resident of the region has about 5400 m3 of water per day, that is more than 280 times higher than the water supply for 1 person on Earth as a whole. For water supply purposes, it is environmentally safe to use daily about 56 * 109 m3 of water or 540 m3 per 1 person, that is about 10% of the total average annual flow.

As for the foreseeable future until about 2025, it is already possible to formulate the task of exporting fresh drinking water from the Northern coast of the Sea of Okhotsk, drained by such rivers as Yana, Taui, Ola, Gizhiga and others. There are no large enterprises-polluters in the basins of these rivers, there is almost no agricultural production. The most industrially developed areas occupied by Magadan and its suburbs are located in the basins of such small rivers as Magadanka and Dukcha, that flow into the Taui Bay, so the water of other rivers doesn't affect the potential water pollution.

Drinking qualities of river waters are illustrated by the data of their chemical composition study (table

2). Table 2. The chemical composition of river waters of the Northern coast of the Okhotsk sea (based on the materials of the Kolyma hydrometeorology and environmental monitoring administrative department , the North-Eastern Complex Research Institute of the Far Eastern branch of the Russian

Academy of Sciences, the RSFSR MG Northeastern geological administrative department ).

The Magadan Center for Environmental Pollution Control has studied the waters of the relatively large rivers of the Northern coast of the Sea of Okhotsk - Gizhiga and Taui - for several years to identify the patterns of negative changes in the quality of river water under the impact of natural and man-made factors. The content of various forms of nitrogen, common iron, copper, zinc, phenols, petroleum products, synthetic surfactants was determined. According to all indicators, the water was clean, due to the absence of large settlements and centers of economic activity in the river drain areas. Only in the period of spring tides and summer floods increases in individual indicators (metals, nitrogen of different forms, petroleum products) are possible. Therefore, the waters of rivers, where the flow is formed in areas not affected by human activity, can be used without prior preparation. This conclusion is also true in relation to the fresh groundwater resources of alluvial deposits, where the quality is higher and more stable than in case of surface deposits.

Methods of water transportation. According to our calculations, without prejudice to modern natural spawning grounds of salmon fish, other aquatic animals and plants now one can export about 3·10 ⁹ m3 of water taken from alluvial deposits in the estuary areas of such rivers as Yana, Arman, Taui to the world market. This is 10% or less of the total annual river flow. In the sequel, this figure can be increased up to 6·10 ⁹ m3.

Water intakes are supposed to be placed in the form of a linear series of wells stretched in the floodplain along the river bed, for free attraction of river waters to the depression funnel. For water transportation it is possible to use the large-tonnage sea tankers used for oil transportation previously. Currently, the tankers are used for the transportation of oil, and their bodies are made of two shells. Since fresh water is not environmentally dangerous, it is possible to use vessels or caravans of tank tows for its transportation, meaning the ones that are not suitable for transportation of oil and oil products according to modern requirements. In these cases, the stations for filling tankers with fresh water are significantly simplified, as compared with the stations for oil. Instead of building oil terminals, that are technically sophisticated ones due to the need to comply with environmental, fire and anti-terrorist security requirements, it will be enough to equip a pumping station and provide proper sanitary control. The vessel can be on the roadstead in the sea, and the water will be supplied through a pipeline laid along the underwater continuation of the river bed, and that will protect the water pipelines from freezing.

Taking into account the fact that the coastal currents in the Sea of Okhotsk are directed from the Northern shores to the Sea of Japan (Fig. 2), it is possible to transport ice masses in the form of icebergs artificially created in winter at the seashore, for their rafting to the southern sea areas and further towing to destinations.

Fig. 2. The scheme of currents on the surface of the Sea of Okhotsk in summer In case of delivery of fresh water for export in the form of icebergs, the cost of transportation will be reduced twice roughly, while performing the works in winter. At the same time, it is necessary to take into account the peculiarities of river flow during this period, when water discharge decreases in hundred times, that is shown in the Taui river flow hydrograph made on the basis of the results of long-term observations (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3. The Taui river average monthly discharge (Talon settlement, the catchment area is 25100 km2) for the period 1941 and 1962-1980 years (4).

Therefore, in case of the year-round withdrawal of fresh water in quantities comparable to the minimum winter discharge (about 20 m ³ /s), the negative phenomena in the form of inflow of salty sea waters and the drainage of spawning grounds may arise . This process can be avoided by means of using well-studied methods of artificial replenishment of fresh water reserves in the North-East of Russia.

Brief description of the drawings

The figure shows the appearance of an artificial iceberg [1] and the appearance of a polymer membrane

[2].

Literature

1. Anderson P. M., Lozhkin A.V. The Late Quaternary vegetation and climates of Siberia and the Russian Far East (the palynological and radiocarbon database). - Magadan: NESC FEO RAS, 2002. - 369 p.

2. Glotov V. E., Glotova L. P. The features of application of chamber methods for fresh underground waters in the Kolyma river basin .The proceedings of the Samara scientific center. - 2012.

- V. 14, No. 1 (9) - Pp. 2316-2320.

3. Kovalev A.D. Seas / / The North Of the Far East. - Moscow: Nauka, 1970. Pp. 165-185.

4. The long-term data on the surface water regime and resources: the Kolyma and the Magadan region rivers' basin . - L.: Gidrometeoizdat, 1985. - V. 1. -432 p.

5. The innovations in modern geological science and practice: the materials of the all-Russian scientific and practical conference (Stary Oskol, April 23-24, 2014), Stary Oskol, 2014. pp. 28-36