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Figure 1, concept model of the first platforms to make up Oceanic City
Preamble:
Oceanic City is not a ship; it is a permanent colony that
will remain at one geographic point in the ocean. Although it will have ship
like qualities, floating on the ocean and it could be moved if necessary, the
goal of the project is to create the sense of permanence of community anchoring
a series of floating artificial islands near the equator in deep ocean waters
where an economy and culture based on mariculture, seawater “mining” and
research will develop and grow.
Around 75% of the surface of Earth is covered by water; the
majority of that water is the form of oceans and seas. Humanity to this point
in history maintains its civilization on land, relies heavily upon land based
agriculture and land mining. The truth is that all of the useable real estate
on land is owned, or being used at this time. With Earth’s population already
over 6.5 billion and growing exponentially, there is no room left to grow on
land.
Coupled with the recent trend in climate change, land and
land resources will be lost in the near future. The estimates hold that the 21st
century will see moderate to significant changes not only in climate and
weather, but also in the levels of the oceans and the impact of moderate to
severe climate changes upon agriculture, cities and how humanity does business.
It is estimated that by 2050 the ocean will rise by about a foot, this rise in
sea level will flood coastal cities around the globe. By the end of the century
predictions hold of sea level rises of several feet, predictions of 1 to 4 feet
based upon earlier models, however recent discovered and events, such as the
break-up of Antarctic shelf ice and the consequential acceleration of land ice
have resulted in dire claims that the process of melting and sea rise will be
far larger than previous optimist models predict.
There's even a slim but frightening possibility,
acknowledged by the EPA and leading climate experts, that warmer temperatures
could unexpectedly trigger a catastrophic melting of polar ice that would raise
sea levels by as much as 30 to 40 feet, gradually inundating the world's major
coastal cities.
All of this flooding is taking place while the population
will continue growing, According to a report by the UN Population Division
(UNDP) published in February 27, 2001, the world's population will increase
from 6.1 billion to 9.3 billion by the year 2050. The amount of land per person
will actually diminish. Arable land will be at a premium. Further most of the
population growth will occur in lands and nations, which are already struggling
to feed their peoples.
The amount of arable usable land per person is not just a
factor of geology; it is also a factor of numbers of people. Even if the seas
were not rising, the number of people would reduce the amount of land for each
person.
Desertification is a growing concern, areas of dessert are
increasing and in many areas dust bowl conditions are already starting while
continual long-term droughts caused by climate change are decreasing crop production
around the globe. Fresh water is becoming a precious commodity as lakes and
rivers are drying up, partially due to climate change, but in the most part due
to mankind’s irrigation and water management practices.
Lakes like Chad Lake of Africa are all but gone. Even the
Dead Sea of the Middle East is evaporating far more rapidly than before.
Although the Dead Sea is not fresh water it self, the rivers and streams that
feed it are and have been shunted to water crops and quench the thirst of growing
populations.
The trends and estimates for land-based peoples are
shocking. It is obvious that humankind cannot be sustained by land based,
natural resources any longer. An alternative method of living must be developed
and must be prepared to ride out the storm of the coming century or more.
Oceanic City is a model that will use current working
technologies to tame the open ocean. Its placement at the equator in the middle
of the Pacific Ocean would give it enough distance from the pollutants of land
based nations, plus it would reap the benefits of the thin belt of relatively
calm waters one degree on either side of the equator1 Two degrees
would result in a band of sea 136 miles north to south, although relatively a
very small distance, the equatorial regions of earth are mostly water, with
distances of thousands of miles between the continents. In the case of the
Pacific from South America Ecuador to Indonesia it is 11817
miles.
Hurricanes
do not cross the equator. The atmosphere at the equator is relatively calm.
Storms that approach the equator have a very hard time sustaining their winds
within 5 degrees of the equator. Tropical cyclones that move into these very
low latitudes will quickly see their circulations disintegrate.
The
reasons for this are related to the way air rises and falls in circulation
cells called (Hadley cells),
as well as to the natural spin (related to the earth's rotation, the coriolis) available to air parcels at low latitudes. This natural deflection
is lowest at the equator, and highest at the poles. This deflection is what causes
the clockwise rotation in the Southern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the
Northern Hemisphere. The zero point in rotation is very near the equator.2
One degree from the
equator (approximately 68 miles north or south of the equator) would afford the
calmest waters. And would be the initial starting point of Oceanic City. In
future as the technology improves for building floating platforms and as
innovations on living with the sea are discovered, it is highly probably that
all of the oceans surface could serve as a home to man.
Simply the forces of nature leading to the optimal or safest
place on the ocean being the equatorial waters now determine the latitude. That
longitude should be determined by such factors as distance from habited lands
(nations) not only due to the pollutants that land based societies dump into
the ocean directly and indirectly, but also to reduce dispute upon ownership of
that particular spot of open water.
Another factor of placement is due to geological activity.
The “Ring of Fire” surrounds the Pacific Ocean as the Tsunami of December 2004
demonstrates earthquakes can cause devastation many miles away by creating a
tsunami wave. Deep-water tsunami waves are nearly invisible as they pass
beneath a ship; their height is relatively small. It is when they reach shallow
waters and shores that the water stacks up upon its self and becomes a tall
wave. To reduce the effects of a tsunami on Oceanic City deep-water placement
in the middle of the ocean is best.
1 Degrees of
latitude are parallel so the distance between each degree remains almost
constant but since degrees of longitude are farthest apart at the equator and
converge at the poles, their distance varies greatly.
Each
degree of latitude is approximately 69 miles (111 kilometers) apart. The range
varies (due to the earth's slightly ellipsoid shape) from 68.703 miles (110.567
km) at the equator to 69.407 (111.699 km) at the poles. This is convenient
because each minute (1/60th of a degree) is approximately one mile.
A
degree of longitude is widest at the equator at 69.172 miles (111.321) and
gradually shrinks to zero at the poles. At 40° north or south the distance
between a degrees of longitude is 53 miles (85 km).
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