esgbs@lims01.lerc.nasa.gov (GARY STANDEN) (12/05/90)
In article <CMCCAFF.98Dec2135419@thrumble.urbana.mcd.mot.com>, cmccaff@urbana.mcd.mot.com (Chuck McCaffrey) writes... >In article <720@sierra.stanford.edu> rosentha@sierra.Stanford.EDU >(Peter A. Rosenthal) writes: > ><<Interesting speculations about coral reefs as a natural sink for >over-abundant CO2 deleted.>> > > If one could float large substrates out in the open ocean several > meters below the surface, and properly seed them, I would bet that > reefs would grow very well on them provided they were located in a > stable, well lit, clean place. Coral occupies only a small area on > the planet presently; I wonder how many square miles? How difficult > would it be to double the area artificially? > > Coral reef farms of this sort would also be a great sustainable > food source for humanity as well as the rest of the world. > >____ > >Very interesting idea, one that had not occurred to me. My questions are: > >1) How large are the "large substrates"? > >2) How do we make the "large substrates"? What do we make them of? >Will their manufacture cause, in and of itself, a large release of >CO2 or pollutants? > >3) Will the installation disrupt anything that should not be disrupted? > >Still, an idea worth considering, along with, naturally, decreasing >the amount of CO2 we cavalierly dump into the ecosphere. >-- > \Chuck McCaffrey cmccaff@urbana.mcd.mot.com 1101 E University Urbana IL 61801 > \ Flashing for the warriors whose strength is not to fight, [my words] > \ Flashing for the refugees on the unarmed road of flight, [my opinions] > / \ And for each and every underdog soldier in the night, > / \ And we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing. The best idea would be to sink old ships. This makes a good platform for coral life. Look at most of the reefs today they have incrusted old ships.
A.S.Chamove@massey.ac.nz (A.S. Chamove) (12/06/90)
Seems to me that if you are going to construct a coral reef away from the natural shore line (precludes sinking old ships [a waste of steel anyway]), you need something that 1--is inexpensive 2--will float 3--has some rigid components (dont know if coral will attach to a flexible plastic) 4--will not float too deeply nor too shallowly (to expose the coral to the air for too long). 5--allows water flow around the coral to feed it -- ----------------------------------------------------------------- Arnold Chamove Massey University Psychology Palmerston North, New Zealand