Kīlauea volcano eruption fosters algae bloom in North Pacific Ocean

news.usc.edu

40 points·curtis··8 comments

Pumping nutrient rich water from the deep ocean to the surface is one proposed way of increasing ocean productivity to repair fish stocks and sequester carbon.

This volcano has provided a natural demonstration of this effect.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_fertilization

Fish, yes, but it doesn't help with global warming. The problem is that while you sequester a lot of carbon you end up converting some of the carbon from CO2 to CH4--and that's a much stronger greenhouse gas.

Could you by any chance point me towards any solid quantitative studies of that? The Wikipedia page mentions it in passing, but the reference is pretty unsatisfying:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_fertilization

very interesting! could someone explain why the hot water would lead to deep, cold water being brought to the surface? I thought hot water is less dense than cold water. Wouldn't it just sit on the surface for a long time?

Or is there just such a large amount of this extremely hot water that the mixing overtime generates movement across the board?

The lava is pouring into the deeper cold water and causing it to rise. At least that’s how I read it.

oh yeah that makes more sense i misread it as water but they meant lava. woops

I think it's that, as the lava sinks to the ocean floor, it warms the colder, nutrient rich water at depth and causes it to rise.

Exactly this. Warm water is less dense than cold water and "floats" over it. The volcano has created a temporary nursery for fishes basically.

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