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Les Applications De L’explosion Thermonucléaire. Camille Rougeron. Paris, Berger-Levrault, 1956. 307 pages. 18.5 cm. Fs. 600.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 January 2017

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Abstract

Type
Reviews
Copyright
Copyright © International Glaciological Society 1957

Chapter 4: “La climatologie thermonucléaire”, is not without interest for glaciologists as regards the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. The views expressed seem futuristic only to those who are behind the times. The hydrogen bomb is a reality ; it only needs to be tried in the attack on the cryosphere instead of the biosphere!

A hydrogen bomb of 20 megatons, as also a superbomb of 60 megatons, could be used to melt the cryosphere, so to speak, in order to use geothermal energy to ameliorate climates and make the Volga and the St. Lawrence navigable, as also the Great Lakes. The subterranean explosion of hydrogen bombs would give craters of enormous dimensions permitting the utilization of this energy. Artificial gulf streams could be created, which could change regional climates and render navigable the arctic seas. The author even envisages electric power stations constructed under the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets.