Mechanically Produced Thermocline - United States of America

Coasts have the ability to supply the world’s energy needs. Mechanically Produced Thermocline, a women-owned business, is providing a solution to climate change in the form of a water-powered pump that can sequester carbon dioxide out of the ocean, thus reducing stress on colonies of coral, helping to replace ice sheets and abating hurricanes and tropical storms.

Fast facts:

Four women have been directly impacted by this activity;
Full implementation of this activity will benefit all women by creating food security for the 25% of the population that is ocean-dependent.

The problem

Half of the world's population lives on the coast or on waterways and are currently experiencing the effects of sea level rise due to anthropogenic caused climate change.

The solution

This activity has created a thermocline to increase the sequestration of carbon dioxide in the ocean. The process will mechanically pump deep cold water to the surface of the ocean. The thermocline stimulates the growth of phytoplankton, which increases the sequestration of carbon dioxide. The increased sequestration of carbon dioxide decreases the amount of carbonic acid dissolved in ocean waters, which, in turn, lowers the alkalinity of the oceans, further increasing the growth of plankton.

Helping the planet

The thermocline pumps can be placed anywhere. The cold water produced by the thermocline will also create a barrier to tropical storms. Hurricanes need a surface temperature of 27 degrees Celsius to sustain their strength. A strategically placed thermocline of sufficient depth would keep Atlantic storms out of the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. A decrease in storm activity would decrease turbidity, increasing the amount of light reaching the euphotic region of the ocean. The decrease in turbidity would increase the amount of light able to penetrate to a greater depth, further increasing phytoplankton growth.

Helping people

A thermocline could help clean up the remaining oil in the Gulf of Mexico from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. The thermocline could potentially sequester between two and five billion tonnes of carbon dioxide each year.

Scaling Up

The thermocline can be scaled up globally.