Fascinating Idea: A Dam Across St. Lawrence Island?

[Guaranteed]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Lawrence_Island

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Lawrence_Dam

http://www.cleverclimate.org/climate/21/plan_c_-_the_st_lawrence_dam/

http://www.global-greenhouse-warming.com/could-a-300-km-dam-save-the-arctic.html

(snip)

The plan describes how building a dam in the Bering Strait influences the three most relevant factors for both formation and melting of sea ice. These are temperature isolation, water salinity and water turbulence.

Placing it some 300 kilometres south of the narrowest point of the strait will lead to a decrease of temperature, salinity and dynamics (through decreased wind fetch) combined.

The dam would connect St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea with the mainland of Alaska and Siberia. All sweet water of the river Yukon would be kept north of the dam, slightly lowering salinity in the Chuckchi Sea, that is part of the Arctic Ocean.

Deliberately influencing salinity could indeed be of important influence, thinks Dr. Overland, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

(snip)

Map:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=st.+lawrence+island&sll=-45.88953,169.715338&sspn=0.030946,0.089693&g=st.+lawrence+island+dam&ie=UTF8&ll=62.247466,-167.871094&spn=10.639165,45.922852&z=5&iwloc=addr

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A couple of drawbacks seem to be cutting off migration routes for whales and crab.

But there are some incredible economic and ecological possibilities in this plan.

[David Dunham]

1. I do not think we have money for this now.

[MineralMan]

2. What about the seismicity of that region?

I'd think that would be a serious problem to such a dam, especially if they built it by simply dropping rock into the path of the dam.

I don't know, and I'm sure the question has been considered, but it seems iffy to me.

Besides, I suspect there would be effects not yet thought of.