This article, which is a predecessor to the first article posted, explains how this group of researchers used GPS tracking systems installed on military vehicles to track vegetation loss. It focuses mostly on how the vehicles turning affect vegetation. The three types of vehicles used for this exercise were the M88 tank recovery vehicle, M35A3 cargo truck, and the M1009 utility vehicle. The researchers also tracked how long it took for the vegetation to grow back to the state it was in before, which according to their findings was 6-12 months.
For the full article, go to this link :
Nuclear
14 years ago
wow, this is terrible. Hopefully the vegitation will not be harmed any more and this will get fixed.
ReplyDeleteWell, the to the military, the environmental impact is a tertiary concern, at best. By the time this issue gets the proper attention, it'll probably be too late.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with what you have just said. But, I really wish it would come to attention now.
ReplyDeleteWell, that's why people, namely us as a generation, have to try harder to bring it to attention.
ReplyDeletePlus, doing extra research into the topic of military vehicles, I found out that the M1 Abrams, the standard battle tank of the US military, only gets around 1 mile per gallon on flat terrain. That is really crappy gas mileage. Plus, it burns diesel, which would mean that, burning regular gas, it'd probably get around 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile per gallon.
Holy that is crappy gas milage! Hopefully we can find a better way to fill up these big machines.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is, though, that the M1 Abrams is 66 tons of metal plating, weapons, and circuitry. Finding an engine powerful enough to move this at a decent speed while yielding decent gas mileage is a problem that has stumped engineers since the inception of the M1 Abrams into the military.
ReplyDeleteDo these machines take regular gasoline or diesal? Or do they use some kind of special fuel?
ReplyDeleteThey use diesel fuel, with a couple of extra chemicals. I don't think regular fuel or even commercial diesel would be effective.
ReplyDeleteEffective as in these machines would never be able to use normal fuel or normal diesel? They have to have the special chemicals in the fuel?
ReplyDeleteThe sheer weight of the tank itself, minus the weight of ammunition, ordinance, supplies and crew make it extremely heavy. Theoretically, they could use unmodified diesel, but the already poor gas mileage would drop even further. We'd end up burning through more using regular diesel. The fuel that the tanks do use is still mostly diesel. There are other chemicals, but they make up less than ten percent of the fuel.
ReplyDeleteI haven't taken the time to read all of these comments...great conversation though...but I would like to know how much damage was done before they allowed the vegetation to grow back? Honestly 6-12 months doesn't seem like that long.
ReplyDeleteI can't remember off the top of my head, but I know it's somewhere in the article. And 6-12 months may not seem long, but if you're spending that time watching grass grow, it probably feels a lot longer.
ReplyDelete