This could be done in a general circulation model of the ocean. My intuition is that this would have a negligible climate impact.
Think if you built an undersea dam instead of turbines. It is very unlikely that this small change in topography would have a huge effect on global climate. If you impede flow in one place this tends to increase pressure gradients elsewhere and thus heat transport elsewhere. We have seen this in atmospheric simulations and I would think the oceans would behave similarly. 10 GW is small potatoes. We will need thousands of time more near-zero-emission energy in the coming decades. Ken Caldeira [email protected] +1 650 704 7212 http://dge.stanford.edu/labs/caldeiralab Sent from a limited-typing keyboard On Apr 29, 2012, at 19:45, Brennan Jorgensen <[email protected]> wrote: > I need to refine this question. If marine turbines reduced the average > yearly kinetic flow of the Gulf Stream in the Florida Straits by 50% > from 1.70 m/sec to .85 m/sec across a 100-km "bottleneck" of Gulf > Stream current between West Palm Beach and Grand Bahama Island, what > effect if any would there be on the North Atlantic’s sea temperatures > or the annual Arctic ice extent? Are there any GCM or thermal > hydrology software programs that could model the effect of this in the > Florida Straits to anyone’s knowledge? > > On Apr 28, 4:14 pm, Brennan Jorgensen <[email protected]> > wrote: >> 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. > -- 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.
