Abstract
The abundant nutrients contained in deep seawater are delivered by natural upwellings from the deep sea to the surface sea. However, the natural upwelling phenomenon is limited to specific areas of the sea; in other areas, the thermocline separates the surface sea from the lower layer. Thus, the surface layer is often deficient in nutritive salts, causing the deterioration of its primary productivity and ultimately leading to an imbalance in the marine ecosystem. Without a consistent supply of nitrogenous nutritive salts, they are absorbed by phytoplankton, resulting in a considerable problem in primary productivity. To solve this issue, a floating type of artificial upwelling system is suggested to artificially pump up, distribute, and diffuse deep seawater containing rich nutritive salts. The key technologies for developing such a floating artificial upwelling system are a floating offshore structure with a large diameter riser, self-supplying energy system, density current generating system, method for estimating the emission and absorption of CO2, and way to evaluate the primary production variation. Strengthening the primary production of the sea by supplying deep seawater to the sea surface will result in a sea environment with abundant fishery resources.
