I thought that I would pose my amateur question to the experts in this particular discussion group in order to find out if there is in fact any viability to this geoengineering idea that pertains to reducing the kinetic flow of the Gulf Stream Current by using marine turbines. I currently work as a renewable energy consultant in Florida and in the past I have corresponded with the Ocean Engineering Department at Florida Atlantic University where I was informed that between West Palm Beach, Florida and Grand Bahama Island there is a “bottleneck” where the Gulf Stream current is just 60-miles (100-km) across with a flow rate of about 30-million cubic meters per second. With seawater 850-times more dense than air, a typical two meter per second current flow gives it the power density of a gale-force wind thus making it very appealing for marine turbine development. In fact, it has been estimated that 10-GW of power capacity could be realized using marine turbines while potentially slowing the kinetic/ heat transport of the Gulf Stream Current: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Golfstream.jpg .
My question is this: We know that it is possible to generate at least 10-GW of hydrokinetic power from the Gulf Stream current in this 100- km “bottleneck” but could it also be theoretically possible to slow the rate of heat transport into the North Atlantic thus assisting in cooling the Arctic in a ocean-based form of geoengineering? -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en.
