MARE LIBERUM: LOCAL ISSUES WITH GLOBAL IMPLICATIONS Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning – use deep, cold (nutrient- and CO 2 -rich) seawater in lieu of heat pumps Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) – use deep, cold (nutrient- and CO 2 -rich) seawater to generate electricity Green solutions  “green” ocean?

NUTRIENTS + LIGHT = PHYTOPLANKTON Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning Project

NUTRIENTS + LIGHT = PHYTOPLANKTON Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) Project

CASE STUDY: Enhanced upwelling and carbon sequestration Site is critical – nutrient flux Community succession is key C-N-P stoichiometry is key

J. E. Lovelock and C. G. Rapley (2007)

Immediate retort from the science community… essentially “What are you smoking in those pipes?” The issue has to do with the CNP ratio of upwelled water relative to particle export Nothing’s as fundamental as elemental!! J. Shepherd et al. 2007

A small-scale field test of the “nutrient loading” hypothesis Karin Björkman, today!

Karl 2007

“Wisdom is knowing what to do next; virtue is doing it” David Starr Jordan ( ) CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH THEMES

Heat exchange medium in air conditioning or energy production applications Cold DSW CO 2 -rich, N&P-rich waste SWAC and OTEC

A.C. REDFIELD (1958) “The inadequacy of experiments in marine biology” Ecosystem manipulation/perturbation experiments are essential Complex systems must be thoroughly described and well understood before relevant experiments can be conducted C:N:P We may now be ready to move!

Why can’t it be done in the sea? EXPERIMENTAL TERRESTRIAL PLOTS

HOW IS PRODUCTIVITY ENHANCED IN THE OCEAN GYRES?

Water from ~300 m DIC:P = 150 N:P < 16 “Redfield” bloom and export with residual DIC and P Selects for photo- trophic N 2 fixing microbes Non- Redfield “echo” bloom and export STEP 1 STEP 2 106C:16N:1P 325C:50N:1P STEP 3 N 2 /CO 2 STA. ALOHA UPWELLING HYPOTHESIS

OPPEX Objectives: (1) to verify the structural integrity and assess the performance of commercially available (Atmocean, Inc.) wave pumps (2) to develop a monitoring and sampling strategy appropriate for tracking the pumps and the upwelled water for the duration of a deployment in waters north of the Hawaiian islands and (3) to study the biological response of the system. Baseline Conditions Temperature Dissolved Oxygen Chlorophyll Ocean Productivity Perturbation Experiment (OPPEX) 30 May – 1 June 2008

OPPEX: Pump Deployment, R/V Kilo Moana 31 May 2008 Elapsed time = 16 min

K. Lee / BEACH collaboration

BAG-I (Biogeochemistry And Genomes) Inaugural deployment Nutrient loading exp. (Karl-Letelier hypothesis) C-MORE/BEACH- MMI collaboration Dec 2011

NSF-SEES: proposal Nov 2011 Karl selected inaugural Kyo-Ya Fellow of “sustainable coastal tourism” SOEST-led UH sustainability initiative cluster hire: 5 new faculty coming soon

Waste DOW Disposal MethodProtocol, Management Tool Consequences IntendedUnintended Pump deep: offshore Discharge waste DOW to original ocean depth Keep nutrients out of shallow lighted coastal zone Density change (by heating) causes enhanced turbulence at point of discharge Pump deep: land-based injection well Discharge waste DOW to a deep injection well on land N, P CO 2 and N 2 O kept out of near-shore ocean environment Unknown hydrology and carrying capacity may lead to coastal ocean injections Pump shallow: offshore (Mamala Bay [MB])Discharge waste DOW at ~50 mKeep nutrients out of near surface waters of MB Plankton blooms still possible since light is present to ~125 m Pump shallow-nearshore (Ala Wai Canal [AWC]) Discharge waste DOW into AWC Improve water quality of AWC; convert from fresh water-estuarine to marine; remove sediment that accumulate in AWC by flushing Change in species diversity, plankton blooms in AWC and Waikīkī; CO 2 and N 2 O discharge to atmosphere Pump to biomass production facility Discharge waste DOW into algal/fish ponds for biofuel stock or other purposes Use DOW nutrient and CO 2 as a resource for coupled food/biomass production Greenhouse gas discharge from algal/fish ponds Pump to P treatment facility Discharge waste DOW into a facility to recover P and, possibly, CO 2 Without phosphate, no plankton bloom will occur; phosphate can be sold as fertilizer Nitrate discharged to coastal waters; N 2 O, and possibly CO 2, discharged to atmosphere Pump to N treatment facility Discharge waste DOW into a facility to remove N, and possibly CO 2 and N 2 O Without nitrate plankton bloom will probably not occur Phosphate discharged to coastal waters may lead to bloom of N 2 fixing microbes Pump to N and P treatment facility Discharge waste DOW into a facility to recover P and remove N, and possibly remove CO 2 and N 2 O Remove all macronutrients and prevent possibility of bloom CO 2 and N 2 O may still enter the atmosphere

EARTH FREE INSTITUTE C-MORE Workshop Nov 2011 “Enhanced Upwelling: Science and Opportunities” Stay tuned for progress

SEA ORBITER The future is today! Coming soon to Honolulu…