Page 11 - Pumping Sand News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

You know, can we use this? sarah dole is sri lankan, but has been living in the maldives for over a decade, and has dedicated herself to studying this natural shift of sand to find a way to create islands sustainably. so first of all, you know, we had to study the fundamentals. so at mit, they are studying the fundamental physics and engineering of it. so, like, trying to understand, how does a sandbank actually form? and that, we've done through satellite imagery and drone footage and, you know, talking to other locals around here, trying to understand the historical data of how sandbanks app...

Of a new island built on sandbags. and you can see where the sand has accumulated using the forces of nature. it's been here for about two years. and about 1.5 metres above the sea bed. another half—metre and it should pop up above the surface and hopefullyjust keep growing. each time we go, we try different materials, different construction techniques. the reason for that is because we want to try to make it as scalable as possible. because this is a global problem, it's not only focused on the maldives. so if you really want to have a solution, you need to make it fast, scalable, cheap. an...

On its own and guiding it, or collaborating with the ocean to promote the accumulation in certain areas where you want it or need it — skylar tibbits and his team simulate the conditions of the pacific ocean and the movement of the sand. they place different—shaped objects in the environment to see which is the best at sand—gathering. our hypothesis is that the reason sand accumulates in certain areas and not others is due to the relationship of the geometry underwater and the force of the oceans. and so, what we do is we design different geometries, we test them in the lab, we see which...

A sense of how developed it is until you get a little bit of distance. there's not an inch of space left. so much so that they built another island just to house all the people. this is hulhumale, built to cope with an ever—growing population just 15 years ago. but how do you build an island? to find out, i went on a brand—new one. so, we're standing on an artificial island? exactly. two—and—a—half years ago, - this was a very small sandbank which has been artificially- reclaimed into an island now. and you've reclaimed it by dredging sand from the ocean? we've dredged sand - from th...

Sophisticated equipment like these ships, pumping sand through the tubes to create islands. then they built airfields, constructed ports, deployed weapons there, even built bar barracks. chai these buildups has angered the obama administration. the u.s. has sent ships and planes near the islands. sometimes drawing chinese warnings. >> this is the china area. please go away quickly. >> now a newspaper is warning over a possible war with the united states. it's spurred by the comment of rex tillerson. >> we're going to have to send china a clear sick nal that first the island building stops and ...