Atmocean’s wave-driven ocean upwelling system operates in the open ocean hundreds of miles from land where there is a steady supply of large ocean waves. Each pump, typically reaching down to depths of 100 meters to 400 meters beneath the surface, employs a surface buoy to capture this kinetic wave energy and pump the deep ocean toward the surface.

The deeper ocean is both colder and contains higher levels of nutrients. Upwelling of this deeper ocean, whether caused by storms and currents or by future deployment of Atmocean pumps, triggers the growth of phytoplankton. To metabolize the nutrients, phytoplankton take in dissolved CO2. This natural process today is absorbing nearly half of mankind’s emissions of CO2 while providing food for nearly all life in the upper ocean. But global warming is stratifying the upper ocean and reducing nutrients which reach the sunlit zone. Fewer phytoplankton grow, diminishing the ocean food chain and absorbing less CO2. This causes a feedback loop as more warming lessens natural ocean absorption of CO2, which then remains in the atmosphere to cause more warming.

In the years and decades ahead, Atmocean believes our wave-driven ocean upwelling system - which closely mimics and slightly enhances the natural ocean process - can play a critical role in restoring our ocean environment and cutting short this feedback loop. On the adjoining pages you can learn more about how our technology works and some of its applications. For more details, please contact Philip W. Kithil, CEO, at [email protected]