From Alaska to Ames: The history (and viability) of glacier ice transport

In 1977, a Saudi prince towed an Alaskan iceberg to Iowa to pitch shipping icebergs to Arabia for drinking water; now engineers are exploring the idea as freshwater scarcity worsens

In a bold venture back in 1977, a Saudi prince attempted to tow an iceberg to address a water supply dilemma. This audacious project confronted considerable engineering hurdles and substantial expenses. With current desalination methods proving both expensive and environmentally taxing, the growing issue of iceberg melting has rekindled interest. Engineers are now revisiting the practicality of transporting icebergs as a viable source of freshwa…

From Alaska to Ames: The history (and viability) of glacier ice transport

In 1977, a Saudi prince paid for a chunk of ice to be delivered from Portage Glacier to Ames, Iowa, the centerpiece of a conference on the potential use of icebergs for drinking water.

In 1977, a Saudi prince paid to tow a chunk of Alaskan iceberg to a conference in landlocked Iowa, serving guests 4,000-year-old ice in their drinks to prove his plan to ship icebergs to Arabia for drinking water, an idea engineers have quietly begun revisiting

The two-tonne block of ice arrived at the Iowa State Memorial Union in a refrigerated truck. It had been extracted from the Portage Glacier near Anchorage a few days earlier by a team of US Navy scuba divers, hoisted out by helicopter, flown to Anchorage airport, put on a commercial flight to Minneapolis, and then trucked the last three hundred miles to Ames. The organiser of the conference at which it was about to be exhibited was a 42-year-old…