Could Artificial Downwelling/Upwelling Mitigate Oceanic Deoxygenation in Western Subarctic North Pacific?
Subpolar gyre regions such as the Western Subarctic North Pacific (WSNP) contain sluggish, low-oxygen water, and are threatened by loss of oxygen (deoxygenation). Our simulations under RCP 8.5 emission scenario suggest that installing pipes to induce artificial downwelling and upwelling (AD and AU)...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:f348bfbaf14f43c89da75aee6ef177c3 2023-05-15T18:28:09+02:00 Could Artificial Downwelling/Upwelling Mitigate Oceanic Deoxygenation in Western Subarctic North Pacific? Canbo Xiao Wei Fan Ying Chen Yao Zhang Kai Tang Nianzhi Jiao 2021-09-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.651510 https://doaj.org/article/f348bfbaf14f43c89da75aee6ef177c3 EN eng Frontiers Media S.A. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.651510/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-7745 2296-7745 doi:10.3389/fmars.2021.651510 https://doaj.org/article/f348bfbaf14f43c89da75aee6ef177c3 Frontiers in Marine Science, Vol 8 (2021) ocean solutions marine geoengineering artificial downwelling/upwelling deoxygenation Western Subarctic North Pacific subpolar gyre regions Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.651510 2022-12-31T04:36:41Z Subpolar gyre regions such as the Western Subarctic North Pacific (WSNP) contain sluggish, low-oxygen water, and are threatened by loss of oxygen (deoxygenation). Our simulations under RCP 8.5 emission scenario suggest that installing pipes to induce artificial downwelling and upwelling (AD and AU) provides short-term solutions to combat deoxygenation in the WSNP. With no engineering, the WSNP's subsurface oxygen decreases by 30–100 mmol/m3 by the year 2100. Continuous implementation of AD and AU instead counters this declining trend, and AD is more effective than AU. The oxygenation effect is primarily a consequence of how the two engineering schemes vertically redistribute oxygen via physical processes. AD directly improves oxygen at depth via advecting surface water toward the ocean interior and subsequent enhanced pycnocline mixing, and AU does so via generating compensatory downwelling outside of the pipes. Both schemes take near 40 years to complete the oxygenation. After that, oxygen reaches a new equilibrium state in the WSNP with no further improvement by the engineering. AD and AU both strongly increase primary production surrounding the deployment sites, but lead only to weak enhancement of aerobic respiration in subsurface water and thus a minor impact on the oxygenation. Other unwanted environmental side effects are negligible compared to those caused by rapid climate change within this century, including outgassing of carbon dioxide, pH decrease, and precipitation reduction. Article in Journal/Newspaper Subarctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Pacific Frontiers in Marine Science 8 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
ocean solutions marine geoengineering artificial downwelling/upwelling deoxygenation Western Subarctic North Pacific subpolar gyre regions Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 |
spellingShingle |
ocean solutions marine geoengineering artificial downwelling/upwelling deoxygenation Western Subarctic North Pacific subpolar gyre regions Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 Canbo Xiao Wei Fan Ying Chen Yao Zhang Kai Tang Nianzhi Jiao Could Artificial Downwelling/Upwelling Mitigate Oceanic Deoxygenation in Western Subarctic North Pacific? |
topic_facet |
ocean solutions marine geoengineering artificial downwelling/upwelling deoxygenation Western Subarctic North Pacific subpolar gyre regions Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 |
description |
Subpolar gyre regions such as the Western Subarctic North Pacific (WSNP) contain sluggish, low-oxygen water, and are threatened by loss of oxygen (deoxygenation). Our simulations under RCP 8.5 emission scenario suggest that installing pipes to induce artificial downwelling and upwelling (AD and AU) provides short-term solutions to combat deoxygenation in the WSNP. With no engineering, the WSNP's subsurface oxygen decreases by 30–100 mmol/m3 by the year 2100. Continuous implementation of AD and AU instead counters this declining trend, and AD is more effective than AU. The oxygenation effect is primarily a consequence of how the two engineering schemes vertically redistribute oxygen via physical processes. AD directly improves oxygen at depth via advecting surface water toward the ocean interior and subsequent enhanced pycnocline mixing, and AU does so via generating compensatory downwelling outside of the pipes. Both schemes take near 40 years to complete the oxygenation. After that, oxygen reaches a new equilibrium state in the WSNP with no further improvement by the engineering. AD and AU both strongly increase primary production surrounding the deployment sites, but lead only to weak enhancement of aerobic respiration in subsurface water and thus a minor impact on the oxygenation. Other unwanted environmental side effects are negligible compared to those caused by rapid climate change within this century, including outgassing of carbon dioxide, pH decrease, and precipitation reduction. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Canbo Xiao Wei Fan Ying Chen Yao Zhang Kai Tang Nianzhi Jiao |
author_facet |
Canbo Xiao Wei Fan Ying Chen Yao Zhang Kai Tang Nianzhi Jiao |
author_sort |
Canbo Xiao |
title |
Could Artificial Downwelling/Upwelling Mitigate Oceanic Deoxygenation in Western Subarctic North Pacific? |
title_short |
Could Artificial Downwelling/Upwelling Mitigate Oceanic Deoxygenation in Western Subarctic North Pacific? |
title_full |
Could Artificial Downwelling/Upwelling Mitigate Oceanic Deoxygenation in Western Subarctic North Pacific? |
title_fullStr |
Could Artificial Downwelling/Upwelling Mitigate Oceanic Deoxygenation in Western Subarctic North Pacific? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Could Artificial Downwelling/Upwelling Mitigate Oceanic Deoxygenation in Western Subarctic North Pacific? |
title_sort |
could artificial downwelling/upwelling mitigate oceanic deoxygenation in western subarctic north pacific? |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.651510 https://doaj.org/article/f348bfbaf14f43c89da75aee6ef177c3 |
geographic |
Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Pacific |
genre |
Subarctic |
genre_facet |
Subarctic |
op_source |
Frontiers in Marine Science, Vol 8 (2021) |
op_relation |
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.651510/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-7745 2296-7745 doi:10.3389/fmars.2021.651510 https://doaj.org/article/f348bfbaf14f43c89da75aee6ef177c3 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.651510 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Marine Science |
container_volume |
8 |
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1766210502518636544 |