In Baltic Sea, citizen divers restore seagrass to fight climate change
October 10, 2023 2:36 AM Subscribe
It does make me optimistic to think of all of these ways where we might end up taking some CO₂ out of seawater (and thus air, but CO₂-caused ocean acidification is a huge problem in itself).
I hope there will turn out to be an easier way to get seagrass spreading than manual individual planting in the long run, because those meadows look amazing.
posted by ambrosen at 11:13 PM on October 10, 2023
I hope there will turn out to be an easier way to get seagrass spreading than manual individual planting in the long run, because those meadows look amazing.
posted by ambrosen at 11:13 PM on October 10, 2023
Unfortunately, large parts of the Baltic Sea suffer from oxygen depletion, and there is no life at all. The sea bed is covered with the remains of dead organisms in a layer that can be over a meter deep. I like this experiment, but it is like fighting dragons with flowers.
posted by mumimor at 12:11 AM on October 12, 2023
posted by mumimor at 12:11 AM on October 12, 2023
I'm not clear how shoreline seagrass relates to (mostly) deep water hypoxia? Is there a relationship that means this will be ineffective? As I understand it, seagrass is not a nitrogen fixing plant, and therefore will be consuming the nitrogen runoffs that are feeding the algal blooms that form the eutrophication process, as well as of course increasing the oxygen levels local to where they are (which is above the halocline, so probably moot for the deep water hypoxia).
I understand there is some temporary shallow water hypoxia in the Danish Straits in summer. My feeling is that a seagrass meadow would be enough of a change (an oxygenating one, of course) that this would no longer be the case.
So yes, I do feel confident saying that the hypoxic regions of the Baltic Sea don't have any bearing on whether this could indeed create/restore a large ecosystem. It's clear to me that they could.
posted by ambrosen at 4:47 AM on October 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
I understand there is some temporary shallow water hypoxia in the Danish Straits in summer. My feeling is that a seagrass meadow would be enough of a change (an oxygenating one, of course) that this would no longer be the case.
So yes, I do feel confident saying that the hypoxic regions of the Baltic Sea don't have any bearing on whether this could indeed create/restore a large ecosystem. It's clear to me that they could.
posted by ambrosen at 4:47 AM on October 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
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