Oceans & marine

Ocean

Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia.

Year: 2020

Photographer: Giorgia Doglioni (edited by Frameworks)


Cultivating algae for export to Japan, Zanzibar

Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, in East Africa.

Year: 2013

Photographer: Yannick Beadoin

Seaweed and macro algae cultivation

The potential of carbon sequestration by marine based plants such as mangroves, seagrass and algae, often referred to as blue carbon, and the importance of better understanding it, has clearly been recognised (Mcleod et al. 2011). The IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (2019) concluded blue carbon can play an important role in both climate regulation and adaptation. The term algae groups together several kinds of marine photosynthetic organisms. These are often subdivided into very small microalgae like phytoplankton, and larger macroalgae like kelp and seaweed. Although there is still large uncertainty about the total amount of carbon sequestered by these marine organisms, a recent estimate by Duarte et al. (2022) indicated that all macroalgae took in as much CO2 as the Amazon rainforest.

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Ringed plovers (Charadrius hiaticular) arriving from the Arctic on Tromlingen, Raet National Park

The Tromlingen islands, as a centrepiece and most valuable part of the Raet national park, are an attractive place for bird watchers, in particular in autumn, when migratory birds from the Arctic stop over on the islands.

Year: 2017

Photographer: Peter Prokosch

Ocean Alkalinity enhancement

Carbon uptake in the ocean mainly occurs directly through ocean-atmosphere interaction or through weathering processes. Due to this uptake of carbon, the oceans turn more acidic overtime, and since the start of the industrial revolution oceans have become 30% more acidic. This has all sorts of effects as it, for example, impacts marine biochemistry, and prevents certain organisms from successfully growing.

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Green river

Seagrass Meadows in Greece

Year: 2017

Photographer: Dimitris Poursanidis

Re-oxygenating the Baltic

The deep waters in the Baltic are severely deoxygenated. Although the causes of the current state are complex, this is mainly a result of increased eutrophication from sewage and agricultural runoff from surrounding lands, which leads to extreme bioproductivity (Rolff et al. 2022). Some species manage to survive in the upper water layers, but many organisms living on the seafloor are severely impacted by the hypoxia, thereby influencing the health of a wide network of ecosystems and biochemical processes. There are attempts to reduce nutrient runoff into the Baltic (see for example: https://helcom.fi/baltic-sea-action-plan/). However, some argue these will be insufficient and argue for engineering solutions to the issue.

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