sorry link no work
whats proposed is a series of 10 m dia pipes 100-200m deep floating in the oceans to allow nutrient rich deep water to reach the surface. That will encourage algae growth and hence mop up carbon dioxide.
Seems reasonable.
Think I'll buy shares in the Wonderful Polypropylene Seapipe Company
From The Guardian, via
The Hindu
Quote:Sci. & Tech.
How sea tubes could slow climate change
By Alok Jha
GUARDIAN NEWS SERVICE: Plastic pipes could pump water to bring up nutrients; less orthodox views need consideration, say experts.
Two of the world's most respected environmental scientists have proposed tackling global warming by churning the oceans with millions of plastic tubes.
James Lovelock, the author of Gaia, and Chris Rapley, newly appointed director of the Science Museum in London, have outlined a plan to dot the world's oceans with 200-metre tubes which would bring nutrients from the deep up to the surface, encouraging algae to bloom. This would suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and lock it away.
"Our concern is that you need to look at the Earth as a system," said Professor Rapley. "Although the science community is studying how the system works, the mitigation community, the people looking at technological and social solutions, we both feel are not taking a helicopter view and considering all possible options, however off the wall they first may seem."
Earlier this year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published its final reports on the likely impacts of global warming.They warned that average global temperatures could rise by as much as 6.4C by the end of the century if carbon emissions continued to increase, with a rise of 4C most likely.
This could wipe out hundreds of species, bring extreme food and water shortages in vulnerable countries and cause catastrophic floods. Africa and the Arctic would bear the brunt of the problems.
In a letter to the journal Nature, Profs Lovelock and Rapley said the Earth was fast becoming hotter than anything experienced by humans and international inertia in dealing with the problem made it doubtful that attempts to limit carbon emissions would have much impact.
Their proposal involves using free-floating or tethered vertical pipes which would mix nutrient-rich deep water with the relatively barren water at the oceans' surface. "Water pumped up pipes - say, 100 to 200 metres long, 10 metres in diameter and with a one-way flap valve at the lower end for pumping by wave movement - would fertilize algae in the surface watersand encourage them to bloom."
The idea is similar to pumps built by the US company Atmocean which exploit the behaviour of plankton called salps, which feed on algae and excrete carbon which sinks to the ocean floor.
Brian Hoskins, a meteorologist at the University of Reading, England,said there was a strong scientific basis to the proposal but it would not provide an easy solution to global warming. "Our uncertainties over the likely regional impact of our greenhouse gas emissions are high. The uncertainties over what these 'solutions' may do is an order of magnitude higher," he said.
Doug Parr, chief scientist at Greenpeace, said: "This kind of geo-engineering is no substitute for reducing our emissions and changing our energy producing and consuming culture substantially."
Graphic (click to enlarge) from The Guardian, print edition 27.09.07, page 11
Won't the oceans become green and hence so also the sky.
Think of all the lyrics that will have to be revised.
Would the algae absorb light better than the sea surface as it is now. If it would then things would hot up even faster.
Methinks it's a back of an envelope job in the club armchairs whilst pissed.
georgeob1 wrote:
Meanwhile geologists continue to expect the gradual development of the coming next ice age .....
Yes, I read those stories about the Northwest Passage as well.
However, I got a totally opposite impression of what the geologists were saying than you did.
spendius wrote:
Methinks it's a back of an envelope job in the club armchairs whilst pissed.
well you would know all about that Spends
Quote:Our uncertainties over the likely regional[/i] impact of our greenhouse gas emissions are high.
The word regional is a qualification you chose to ignore George.
george wrote
Doug Parr was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy in Physical Chemistry from Oxford University in 1991. He produced a number of papers relating to ozone layer and ground-level air pollution issues.
I really suggest that George reads Parr's paper "How to Restore Public Trust in Science" at first.
And then some of his others. Google scholar lists 49 different.
(On the other hand: being the Chief Scientist of *gulp* Greenpeace certainly disqualifies him for some at once.)
Steve 41oo wrote:
Doug Parr was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy in Physical Chemistry from Oxford University in 1991. He produced a number of papers relating to ozone layer and ground-level air pollution issues.
His academic and scientific credentials are no greater than mine. They prove nothing.
Walter wrote:I really suggest that George reads Parr's paper "How to Restore Public Trust in Science" at first.
And then some of his others. Google scholar lists 49 different.
(On the other hand: being the Chief Scientist of *gulp* Greenpeace certainly disqualifies him for some at once.)
Walter aptly demonstrates my case.
georgeob1 wrote:His academic and scientific credentials are no greater than mine. They prove nothing.
At least, more of his publication are registered online and in university libraries - I just compared that. (I admit, I don't have access to a number of certain non-public libraries.)
Walter Hinteler wrote:georgeob1 wrote:
Meanwhile geologists continue to expect the gradual development of the coming next ice age .....
Yes, I read those stories about the Northwest Passage as well.
However, I got a totally opposite impression of what the geologists were saying than you did.
Well, biologists on the other hand don't connect the now numerous appearances of dolphins (Delphinus delphis) in the Baltic Sea as a sign of the coming new Ice Age ...
There are so many universities (the UK has 131) and similar institutions with high sounding titles and so many seperate disciplines each with high sounding titles and with many members of each each with high sounding titles, some taking up two lines of these pages, that it is quite obvious that one might select one statement from any one member to bolster almost any argument, like picking a raffle ticket out of a hat.
It is also obvious, given IQ spread and competition in recruitment from other agencies, industry, the military, media etc, that being a member of a university faculty is no great shakes from an intellectual point of view.
With the explosion of the "higher learning" universities are more an economic category than anything else. It is said that for each job in a university another 0.9 jobs are created in its vicinity but I would guess that the figure is higher than that. And they keep large numbers of people out of the jobs market and off the unemployment register thus keeping competition down.
Basically, as Veblen showed, they are business institutions run on business lines.
I think psychologists would say that the more self-flattery and publicity there is the more doubts exist as to the real merits of an institution and any of its staff.
They are in business to award qualifications and they will damn well award them whatever other considerations apply.
All that is, of course, perfectly reasonable and planned by the Government.
What is not reasonable is the assumption that what any of the statements issued from such sources say is valid simply because it has issued from a particular source with a high sounding title which has been selected for no other reason than that it fits in with the notions of the person selecting it.
One need only look at the figures for the consumption of fossil fuels to be quite satisfied that some effect will be taking place. What effect is simply a matter of personal taste.
Goethe said that the trouble with man is that he can't sit quietly in his room. He must be whirling in his grave like an electric egg whisk on full throttle.
Nothing like observing the never-ending quest by Conservatives to prove that the more education you've received on a subject, the less you actually know about said subject.
Cycloptichorn
Hi Cyclo-
Have you majored in an ology?
spendius wrote:Hi Cyclo-
Have you majored in an ology?
My formal degrees are in History, Philosophy, and Heavy Lifting.
I don't presume that people are uneducated and unreliable due to their education like some here.
Cycloptichorn
spendius wrote:
Goethe said that the trouble with man is that he can't sit quietly in his room. He must be whirling in his grave like an electric egg whisk on full throttle.
I can't remember that Goethe wrote that, but Pascal said similar: "Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre."
Walter Hinteler wrote:I can't remember that Goethe wrote that, but Pascal said similar: "Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre."
C'est pourquoi je ne suis pas malheureux!
You may well be right Walt. I was dredging my memory.
Maybe Pascal is the egg whisk then. The men of wisdom tend to merge into one Godhead at times.
georgeob1 wrote:
His academic and scientific credentials are no greater than mine. They prove nothing.
dont be so hard on yourself George, your contributions are always welcome
Cyclo-
Wasn't it nice of me to provide you with an opportunity to flash your credentials.
They say one should wear one's learning lightly. Like one does a good suit.
What was the most important idea you gained from your study of history?
