The Heat Exchange Method of Artificial Upwelling

A technology to make ocean fishing sustainable and for the restoration of marine populations.

desertIf an underground river would be discovered just 50 feet below the surface of a desert where there was also a constant 20 mph wind, you can bet that someone would build a windmill that would power a water pump. And this desert which in its present form cannot support very much life, would by the addition of a constant supply of water from under the ground begin to grow plants, and life on the surface would flourish.

In the case of this desert, water is the limiting nutrient required for photosynthesis. This is how the food chain begins, with photosynthesis converting energy from the sun into the chemical energy on which all life depends.

The deep ocean is like a desert and not because there is not enough water. Most of the life in the ocean is confined to the 10 percent of the ocean at the continental margins. And here’s why: The limiting nutrieoceannts necessary for photosynthesis out in the deep ocean are nitrate and phosphate, among others. These nutrients are out there in abundance, yet they are 200 meters under the surface where light can't reach them.

Photosynthesis requires all of these ingredients: light, water and the nutrients, including carbon dioxide. There is a way to bring these ingredients together out in the deep ocean by using pipes and the power from waves. And it turns out to be not at all that difficult.

The volume of deep ocean that can provide the nutrients is unimaginably vast. Artificial upwelling has the potential to make ocean fishing sustainable and to restore marine populations. This is genuine green technology.


"This could be the next giant step in the green revolution"