Phase 1 (Sand Storm Control) of Three Stage Control plan

1

• Phase 1 (Sand Storm Control) of Three Stage
  Control plan
• for the Encroaching Desert Problem of Northern
  China
• Creating Food and Energy Water
• (Phase 2 Irrigation plant growth with solar
  evaporated sea water, Phase 3 Production and
  export of Energy to Europe)

1. ADME Aerially Delivered Mini Environment.
Enables the rapid installation of a sand fence
automatically deployed between each ADME enabling
the vast sand storms in central Chinese deserts
to be controlled rapidly and cost effectively.
Incorporates an arid resistant plant which will
itself act in the long term as a sand fence and
wind break. Contains a water / dew harvesting
system, They can be deployed in a string or line
of up to 4 km in length by being dropped from an
aeroplane.
Rapid expansion of Chinese deserts is causing
China to outsource farming to e.g Africa and
South America, increasing land, forest, water
and political stress. For centuries, China
experienced regular dust storms, but the latter
half of the twentieth century brought an increase
in these storms, likely due to human activities
such as overgrazing. From AD 300 to 1949, a dust
storm typically struck northwestern China every
31 years. After 1990, the occurrence increased to
once a year. China has mounted various efforts
to halt the increasing desertification, which is
caused by overuse of the land for farming and
grazing.
2. Initial extraction parachute. An initial
drogue parachute begins the ADME deployment by
dragging the rearmost ADME unit from the plane.
The connecting ropes of length 10 m drag out
successive ADME units. This method of delivering
cargo is well established and is called LAPES
Low Altitude Parachute Extraction System. It has
been used to deliver loads from 1 tonne to even
17 tonne light tanks. As each unit is dragged
from the plane, they will form a line of ADMEs up
to 3.8 km in length, based on a weight of 50 kg/
ADME, at 10 meter spacing, and a Hercules payload
of 19090 kg.
Nonetheless, as much as 900 square miles (2,300
square kilometers) of farmland in northern
Chinaan area more than twice the size of Hong
Kongis blown away by the wind each year,
according to a Chinese scientist quoted in a New
York Times article last year. "If China cannot
quickly arrest the trends of deterioration, the
growth of the dust bowl could acquire an
irreversible momen-tum," Brown warned. "What is
at stake is not just China's soil, but its
future." Studies by Chinese scientists and the
World Bank have concluded that China has lost
U.S. 2 billion to 3 billion a year over the
past decade from the effects of lost land and
productivity, threatening the livelihood of at
least 170 million people.1 1 R. Reggie
Royston, Chinas Dust Storms Raise Fears of
Impending Catastrophe, National Geographic,
01-Jun-2001.
Figure USAF C-130 doing a LAPES ( Low Altitude
Parachute Extraction System) as the load is about
to hit the runway surface at Khe Sanh during the
Vietnam war
3. ADME Landing Orientation Parachute. This is
stowed on top of the ADME and is attached by
three strings to the circumference of the tyre
such that the tyre will float down with the three
and fence support poles correctly placed on the
upper surface.
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4. Three Flexible fiberglass support poles. These
are similar to the highly flexible poles used in
tents and fishing rods, and which can be bent
extremely without breaking and will spring back
to their original shape. These are fixed by light
strings or tapes around circumference / upper
edge of tyre whilst in transit. When deployed the
string or tapes rapidly rot in the UV rays of the
sun and release the poles. These will spring
into a vertical position forming a tripod. This
supports the sand fence ( see below) via the
upper rope which is threaded through upper edge
of the sand fence. The rope is connected to two
adjacent ADMEs.
6. Tyre annulus. The annulus contains a cloth bag
of sewage sludge which contains nutrients and is
highly hygroscopic, since it contains many
bacterial cell bodies which are by their nature
able resist dehydration. A thin layer of oil is
also in the tyre and any moisture condensing at
night as dew will fall below the oil and not then
re-evaporate.
(This phenomena of oil tanks trapping water is a
well-known problem in diesel tanks). Also within
the ADME is a Jojoba or similar plant suitable
for arid areas. These will grow and assist in
trapping sand and provide additional strength for
the sand fence.
7. Installation rates. Assume 19 tonne ADME
payload is factory pre-assembled and can be
wheeled into the Hercules (or similar) in say 1
hour, and with a round trip of 5 hours, the
aircraft can perform 4 sorties per day, or 5 x
3.9 km say 16 km/day per plane. World aircraft
production diminished, from 2007 2011by 2,000/
yr. Half may be equivalent to the Hercules, then
this implies 1,000 large aircraft could be built
per year. Or 3,000 in 3 years. 3,000 aircraft
could lay 3,000 craft x 16 km/day x 300
days/year 14,000,000 km/year. The Gobi desert
is 1,295,000 km² say 1140 km x 1140 km. This
would require a crosswise NS and EW grid at say a
100m line spacing would imply a total sand fence
length of 2 x 1140 x1140 x 10 26,000,000 km.
Therefore the grid could be sown in 26/14 1.8
years or with only 300 aircraft 18 years.
5. Sand (or snow) fence. This plastic mesh, is
already widely used for this purpose. It slows
the wind down causing the airborne sand (snow) to
drop, before or behind the ADME, but not at it so
it is never buried. This forms self-perpetuating
sand dunes. The fence is packed between each ADME
in the aeroplane. After deployment to the ground,
the fence is supported by the two connecting
ropes which connect each ADME when the poles are
automatically erected. The effect of the fences
and dunes so created is to permanently slow down
the surface winds and prevent the massive
movement of sand which is gradually extending the
central Chinese deserts, and to create conditions
for the grow of sand barrier plants.
8. Arid resistant bushy plant seedling such as
Jojoba. A seedling is planted within the tyre
annulus, which will feed on the nutrients and use
the moisture. This will over time establish and
help support the snow fence and also act as a
sand fence.
Plastic sand fence in a roll
9. Flight costs. One flying hour of a Hercules
cost (in 1998) 3532 (including capital cost).
(http//www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a215747.p
df). Assume a nominal increase of 50 for today,
so costs are more or less 5298 / hour. Multiply
this by 243653000 (for 3000 aircraft) flying
the whole year), this results in 140 billion of
annual costs (without costs for the fences and
equipment. I multiply by 1.8 (because you assume
1.8 years of operations). This gives 250 billion
or 3 of the current annual Chinese gdp. or,
over 18 years 0.3 of the gdp..
10. ADME costs Assume 50 per unit. Spaced at 10m
then total cost is 2 x 1140 x 100 x 1140 x 10 x
50 129 billion. Over 10 years 1.54 gdp/year
11. Saving and payback. It can be argued that
China saves at least these amounts if the scheme
is fully implemented by (1) decreasing damage
from sand storms (2) additional biomass and food
yields (see later Phase 2) (3) evaporative
cooling creating habitable land increasing land
values (Phase 2)