Here's an interesting article on a guy in Japan who achieved the saame effect as OIF.
---------------------------------------------------------- Man-made undersea ridges expected to fight global warming Mikiko Miyakawa / Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer More than 20 years ago, Tatsuo Suzuki came up with the idea of building an artificial undersea ridge from coal ash to help increase the fish population and provide a new use for industrial waste. His project raised eyebrows, but it might have produced another upshot: helping to fight global warming. The shape of the manmade ridge creates currents that cause nutrients to rise, sustaining tiny phytoplanktons. As these phytoplanktons go through photosynthesis, they suck up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, according to Suzuki, who now heads the Environment Project Department of major general contractor Hazama Corp. The Fisheries Agency projected in 2006 that one underwater ridge, which measures 120 meters long, 60 meters wide and 12 meters high, absorbs and stabilizes about 3,500 tons of carbon dioxide a year. Suzuki had a hunch that something like this might result. "I was sure about this well before any tests were conducted," he said. "Increasing the number of phytoplankton does the same thing as planting trees." But Suzuki wondered if this ash could be used somehow to have a positive affect on marine life. He eventually devised an underwater structure that would solve the question of how to recycle the waste and boost fish stocks in one fell swoop. His belief took a more physical form in 1982 when his group invented "ashcrete"--a material made from coal ash and cement--and proposed the idea to the government. Suzuki's efforts paid off in 1995. With subsidies from the Fisheries Agency, an experiment to build an underwater ridge shaped to generate a flow of water that ascended from the seabed to the surface was launched off Ikitsukijima island, Nagasaki Prefecture. The upwelling brings nutrients that have accumulated in the seabed to the euphotic zone, the upper layer of water illuminated by the sun, helping the phytoplankton to multiply. As the bottom link on the food chain grows in number, members higher up the chain, such as zooplankton and fish, gravitate to the area. The end result is like hitting three birds with one stone: more fish for food, previously detrimental waste is used in a manner that doesn't hurt the environment, and phytoplankton photosynthesis boosts the arsenal in the fight against global warming. The central government subsidized 50 percent of the costs of the experiment, which ran from 1995 to 2000, with 25 percent covered by Nagasaki Prefecture and the private sector chipping in the remainder. About 5,000 ashcrete blocks, each weighing six tons, were stacked to build the undersea ridge at a depth of 80 meters about five kilometers off Ikitsukijima. The result exceeded everyone's expectations. A survey by the funders of the project found that the fish catch had increased sixfold in a 20- kilometer by 18-kilometer area around the ridge. "The project proved far more successful than we had anticipated," Suzuki said. So far, two manmade undersea ridges have been built and two more are under construction in waters off Nagasaki Prefecture, where the prefectural government plans to complete seven such ridges by the end of 2010. A similar project is under way in Kagoshima Prefecture. http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/0009/080101_03.htm Undersea Ridge C02 reduction Diagram http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/0009/080101_031.htm --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Global Change ("globalchange") newsgroup. Global Change is a public, moderated venue for discussion of science, technology, economics and policy dimensions of global environmental change. Posts will be admitted to the list if and only if any moderator finds the submission to be constructive and/or interesting, on topic, and not gratuitously rude. 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/globalchange -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
