The Bay of Fundy in eastern Canadahas the highest tides in the world, anything up to 16 metres differencebetween low tide and high tide. And the effects of that show upin a few places around here. Like Hopewell Rocks, where I’m notstanding on a beach right now, I’m standing on the ocean floor. That’s how far the tide is out. Actually, I’m kind ofsinking into it. But in a few hours’ time, those rocks will behalf-way underwater,.
And if I stuck around, I would be drowning in very cold,very fast and very deep ocean. But I’m not going to do that! Instead, I’m going to go about40km that way, to– –Moncton. It’s the next morning,it’s very cold, and I’m flying a drone to try andget a shot of the tidal bore. This is one of the few places inthe world where, every high tide, a wave of water washes upstreamagainst the current. But the most obvious sign of the tidesaround here is in–.
–Saint John, at the Reversing Falls, where a massive rivermeets the Bay of Fundy at a narrow channelfilled with rocks and snags. This isn’t just a tidal river:it’s a tidal set of rapids. Calling it a “waterfall”is maybe a bit generous, but at low tide the waterdefinitely has a gradient, it drops a couple of metres in heightover a really short distance. And then a few hours later at– –high tide, the wholeflow reverses,.
And the river’s dropping a fewmetres in height the other way. And so the obvious question I had was: why has nobody turned that bayinto a power station yet? Actually, question number one:why are the tides so high here? To answer that, I’ll use thebathtub in my hotel room. For this “scientifically-rigorous”demonstration, the Bay of Fundy is representedby the bathtub, and the Atlantic tides and allthe unimaginable pressure created by megatonnes of wateris represented by…
…my arm. So. Moon pulls on the ocean, tidecomes in, pressure gets applied, and a wave heads down the bathtub,the Bay of Fundy, and bounces back. ‘Cos it’s not like the waterall rises simultaneously. It takes time, and yes, the scalehere is colossally different, but you still get a wave effect, a reflection, and a troughthat follows the wave. Tick, tock. Tick, tock. And that will always takeroughly the same time.
To go up and bounce back, it’ll be affected a little bit bythe weather and water temperature. So what happens when thenext tide comes in? If I time each push to go withthe wave that’s already there, then very quickly, you start seeinga resonant frequency, and a lot of power… Wah! That worked way betterthan I expected it to! The resonant frequency of theBay of Fundy is roughly 12½ hours,.
The same as the tidal cycle.Combine that with geography that’s less like a bathtuband more like a funnel, getting tighter and tighteras that wave comes in, and you have the highest tidesin the world, right there. The power is immenseand it’s obvious. And if it could be harnessed,then it’d be reliable and renewable. Intermittent, sure,but on a schedule that would be simple for the gridto predict and plan around. So why aren’t there tidal power stationsall around the Bay of Fundy?.
Well, the answer is: it’s been tried.A lot. Usually in the– –Minas Basin, where several companies have put millions and millions of dollarsbehind technical trials. And every time, the Bay of Fundybreaks the turbines! 2009: a turbine was “torn apart”. 2010: two blades “broken off”. 2018: “damaged beyond repair”. Turbines in these waters haveto be light enough to spin, but strong enough to resisthigh speed salt water.
That carries huge amounts of sedimentand big rocks along with it, and in winter, enormouschunks of sea ice. Oh, and that’s before we evenstart talking about the concerns from First Nations peoplesand commercial fishing operations that maybe putting a load ofgiant spinning things in the water might cause some problems for fish. But people are still trying, there aremore experimental turbines planned. Can it be done? Maybe.
I thought about doing long interviews with the tidal power companiesand their opponents around here, but those interviews would havesounded the same twenty years ago. And the result would have just beena much longer way of saying: maybe. If it can ever be done,safely and reliably, it’d be brilliant,I hope that happens. But there’s also a decent chancethat the Bay of Fundy is just going to tear theturbines apart again,.
And in twenty years, the answerstill will be: maybe. And now, today’s– –sponsor. I saved $200 on therental car that got me here, because I used NordVPN. Bazı araba kiralama şirketlerinin yerel halktan daha fazla ücret aldığı ortaya çıktı: aynı araba, aynı sözleşme, her şey aynı, emin olmak için son ödeme aşamasına kadar gittim. Ancak NordVPN'in hâlâ İngiltere'deymişim gibi davranmamı sağlayan sihirli düğmesine tıkladığım için.
Çok daha ucuz olan İngiltere fiyatından teklif aldım. Nedenini bilmiyorum ama bu tek işlem, iki yıllık abonelik için ödediğimden çok daha değerliydi. Ayrıca, Kanada'da olduğum için, bazı İngiliz siteleri yardımcı olmaya çalışıp beni otomatik olarak .ca alan adlarına yönlendiriyor, hatta bazen yerel olmadığım için onlara hiç erişemeyeceğimi söylüyorlar. Artık telefonumun ya da dizüstü bilgisayarımın İngiltere'de ya da istersem altmış başka ülkeden birinde olduğunu söyleyebiliyorum.
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Ghuba ya Fundy, mashariki mwa Kanada, ina mawimbi ya juu zaidi ulimwenguni, tofauti ya mita 16 kati ya mawimbi ya chini na ya juu. Na athari za hilo zinaonekana katika maeneo machache hapa. Kama Hopewell Rocks, ambapo mimi si kusimama juu ya pwani sasa hivi, Mimi nina kusimama juu ya sakafu ya bahari. Hiyo ni jinsi mbali mawimbi ni nje. Kwa kweli, mimi ni aina ya kuzama katika hilo. Lakini katika muda wa saa chache, miamba hiyo itakwenda chini ya maji. Na kama ningebaki karibu, ningekuwa kuzama katika baridi sana, haraka sana na kina kina bahari. Lakini sitaki kufanya hivyo! Badala yake, mimi nina kwenda kuhusu 40km njia hiyo, kwa <unk> <unk>Moncton. Ni asubuhi iliyofuata, ni baridi sana, na mimi nina kuruka drone kujaribu na kupata risasi ya shimo la mawimbi. Hii ni moja ya maeneo machache duniani ambapo, kila high tide, wimbi la maji anaosha upstream dhidi ya sasa. Lakini ishara dhahiri zaidi ya mabadiliko ya bahari hapa ni katika <unk>. <unk> Saint John, katika Reversing Falls, ambapo mto mkubwa hukutana na Bay of Fundy katika mfereji mwembamba uliojaa miamba na snags. Hii si tu mto wa mawimbi: ni seti ya mawimbi ya mawimbi. Kuita "maporomoko ya maji" labda ni ukarimu kidogo, lakini wakati wa maji ya chini maji hakika yana gradient, inashuka mita chache kwa urefu juu ya umbali mfupi sana. Na kisha saa chache baadaye wakati wa <unk> <unk> high tide, mtiririko mzima inageuka, Na mto ni kushuka mita chache katika urefu njia nyingine. Na hivyo swali dhahiri nilikuwa ni: kwa nini hakuna mtu akageuka kwamba bayin kwa kituo cha umeme bado? Swali la kwanza ni, kwa nini mawimbi ya maji ni ya juu sana? Ili kujibu swali hilo, nitatumia beseni la bafu katika chumba changu cha hoteli. Kwa ajili ya maonyesho haya ya "kisayansi-dhidi", Bay of Fundy inawakilishwa na bathtub, na mawimbi ya Atlantiki na shinikizo lote lisiloweza kufikiriwa lililoundwa na megatonnes ya maji linawakilishwa na...... mkono wangu. Hivyo. Mwezi huvutia bahari, mawimbi huja, shinikizo hutumiwa, na wimbi huelekea chini ya beseni, Ghuba ya Fundy, na kuruka nyuma. 'Kwa sababu si kama maji yote huinuka kwa wakati mmoja. Inachukua muda, na ndiyo, kiwango hapa ni tofauti sana, lakini bado unapata athari ya wimbi, kutafakari, na bonde ambalo hufuata wimbi. Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Na hiyo daima itachukua karibu wakati huo huo. Ili kwenda juu na bounce nyuma, itakuwa kuathiriwa kidogo na hali ya hewa na joto la maji. Kwa hiyo ni nini kinachotokea wakati wimbi linalofuata linapokuja? Kama mimi wakati kila kushinikiza kwenda na wimbi kwamba ni tayari huko, basi haraka sana, wewe kuanza kuona resonant mzunguko, na nguvu nyingi... Wah! Njia hiyo ilifanya kazi vizuri kuliko nilivyotarajia! Mzunguko wa resonance wa Bay of Fundy ni takriban masaa 12 na nusu, Pamoja na kwamba na jiografia ambayo ni chini ya kama bathtub na zaidi kama funnel, kupata tighter na tighter kama wimbi hilo inakuja katika, na una wimbi la juu zaidi duniani, haki huko. Nguvu ni kubwa na ni dhahiri. Na ikiwa inaweza kutumiwa, basi itakuwa ya kuaminika na inayoweza kurejeshwa. Kwa wakati, bila shaka, lakini kwa ratiba ambayo ingekuwa rahisi kwa gridi kutabiri na kupanga karibu. Kwa hiyo kwa nini hakuna vituo vya umeme wa mawimbi karibu na Ghuba ya Fundy? Naam, jibu ni: imejaribiwa. Mengi. Kwa kawaida katika <unk> <unk>Minas Basin, ambapo makampuni kadhaa wameweka mamilioni na mamilioni ya dola nyuma ya majaribio ya kiufundi. Na kila mara, Ghuba ya Fundybreaks turbines! Mwaka 2009 turbine moja ilivunjika. 2010: blades mbili <unk> kuvunjwa off<unk>. 2018: kuharibiwa zaidi ya kurekebishwa. Turbines katika maji haya lazima kuwa nyepesi kutosha kugeuka, lakini nguvu ya kutosha kukabiliana na maji ya chumvi ya kasi. Mto huo unabeba kiasi kikubwa cha matope na miamba mikubwa, na wakati wa majira ya baridi kali, unabeba vipande vikubwa vya barafu ya baharini. Oh, na hiyo ni kabla hata kuanza kuzungumza juu ya wasiwasi kutoka kwa watu wa Kwanza Mataifa na shughuli za uvuvi wa kibiashara kwamba labda kuweka mzigo wa mambo makubwa ya kuzunguka katika maji inaweza kusababisha baadhi ya matatizo kwa samaki. Lakini watu bado wanajaribu, kuna turbines zaidi za majaribio zilizopangwa. Je, inaweza kufanywa? Labda. Nilikuwa nafikiria kufanya mahojiano marefu na makampuni ya nishati ya mawimbi na wapinzani wao hapa, lakini mahojiano hayo yangekuwa na sauti sawa miaka ishirini iliyopita. Na matokeo yangekuwa tu njia ndefu zaidi ya kusema: labda. Kama inaweza kamwe kufanyika, salama na kuaminika, ingekuwa brilliant, Natumaini kwamba hutokea. Lakini pia kuna nafasi nzuri kwamba Ghuba ya Fundy ni tu kwenda tear turbines mbali tena, Na katika miaka ishirini, jibu bado itakuwa: labda. Na sasa, leo ni mdhamini. Nilikosa $ 200 kwa gari la kukodisha ambalo lilinipeleka hapa, kwa sababu nilitumia NordVPN. Baadhi araba kiralama kampuni zao lokal halktan zaidi ücret aldığı ortaya çıktı: aynı araba, aynı sözleşme, her şey aynı, emin olmak için son ödeme aşamasına kadar gittim. Lakini NordVPN'in hâlâ İngiltere'deymişim gibi davranmamı sağlayan sihirli düğmesine tıkladığım için. Çok daha ucuz olan İngiltere fiyatından teklif aldım. Nedenini bilmiyorum ama bu tek işlem, iki yıllık abonelik için ödediğimden çok daha değerliydi. Pia, Kanada'da nilikuwa kwa, baadhi Kiingereza siteleri kusaidia olmaya kaziıp beni otomatik kama.ca alan adlarına yönlendiriyor, hatta bazen lokal olmadığım için onlara hiç erişemeyeceğimi söylüyorlar. Sasa telefonumun ya da dizüstü bilgisayarımın İngiltere'de ya da istersem altmış başka ülkeden birinde olduğunu söyleyebiliyorum. Ve pek sana kitu tu kwa ajili yangu inafanya kazi. Dizüstü bilgisayarımda ve telefonumda, istersem aynı anda altı cihaza kadar. NordVPN ni moja ya huduma za usalama za kimataifa zinazotumika na watumiaji wa NordVPN, na kwa hivyo, kwa sababu ya hali ya hewa, ni muhimu sana kwa watumiaji wa NordVPN kuamua ikiwa ni lazima kuamua ikiwa ni lazima kuamua ikiwa ni lazima kuamua ikiwa ni lazima kuamua ikiwa ni lazima.