Why the USSR wanted to interfere with the Bering Sea ecosystem and wall off Alaska
During the Soviet era, interfering with ecosystems, changing river flows and cutting down forests were considered quite progressive actions. The authorities even wanted to interfere in the Bering Sea ecosystem and to cut off Alaska.
The initiative to erect a barrier separating Russia and the United States was actively considered in the 1970s. OBOZ.UA tells about the details of the grandiose plan.
The Bering Strait was considered by engineers as a "height" that can and should be taken. In the days of the Russian Empire, ideas about connecting the continents by bridge or tunnel sounded.
Plan of an underground tunnel.
Source: Open source image
But it wasn't just a question of building a bridge. Additional thousands of kilometers of roads were needed. And the Bering Sea combines not the most populated parts of both Russia and the US.
A typically Soviet idea was voiced by engineer Voronin, who decided that it was necessary to "improve" the climate of the Far East by blocking cold water from the Arctic. The approach was really radical - no bridges or tunnels, it was necessary to cut off from the United States and completely fill in the Bering Strait.
Another Soviet scientist, Borisov, demonstrated his climate change plan. The new project was global - Borisov proposed to "pull the entire Russian Arctic Circle out from under the ice." This required "only" curbing the Gulf Stream. According to this "ingenious" plan, the current should have gone "to the depths," and cold waters would have dominated the Arctic Ocean on the surface.
Map.
Source: Open Source Image
Now instead of plans to fill in the strait, there were ideas of building a dam to then pump water out of the northern part. Giant volumes of water were to be loaded by nuclear pumps. The calculations were as follows: the level of the Chukchi Sea would gradually decrease, and the warm currents of the Gulf Stream would rise in about 6 years.
Fortunately, the nature of underwater currents at that time was still insufficiently studied, and it would have taken decades and considerable financial investments to build the dam. So the authorities never took up the "grandiose" project of climate change.
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