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26 Oct 2023
The ocean is crucial to sustainability. The ocean is a major source of food, energy, and the planet's largest long-term carbon store. Many areas of technical innovation are needed to achieve sustainability. Some key areas are ocean observations, renewable energy, and carbon dioxide removal.
Ocean observations. Because of its vast volume, and because EM does not easily penetrate seawater, we will know less about the interior of the ocean than most other areas of scientific study. Models and digital twins help us estimate ocean processes, but revolutions are needed in remote sensing, robotic platforms, and low-cost sensors to truly understand the ocean to effectively measure, monitor and manage the ecosystem services the ocean provides to achieve sustainability.
Renewable Energy. In the past nearly one-third of non-renewable energy has come from the ocean. In the future a similar amount of renewable energy must be developed offshore. While the mix is not yet known, it is certain that wind energy and hydrogen will both play significant roles.
Carbon Dioxide Removal. All the IPCC pathways to limit warming to 2 C require significant amounts of carbon removal to compensate for industries that are difficult to decarbonize while still achieving net carbon neutrality. Several promising pathways to large-scale marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) include ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE), electrochemical mCDR, and biological mCDR. Each pathway is unproven and currently the focus of many research and development efforts. All mCDR activities also require careful measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) to prove the effectiveness of the carbon removal. Effective MRV requires advances in standards, sensing techniques, robotic platforms, and models.
To achieve sustainability, we must simultaneously gather more resources from the ocean while also reducing the impact on biodiversity and environment. Interdisciplinary application of technology from many domains is key to meeting the opportunity of effectively managing ocean resources to achieve sustainability.
Ocean observations. Because of its vast volume, and because EM does not easily penetrate seawater, we will know less about the interior of the ocean than most other areas of scientific study. Models and digital twins help us estimate ocean processes, but revolutions are needed in remote sensing, robotic platforms, and low-cost sensors to truly understand the ocean to effectively measure, monitor and manage the ecosystem services the ocean provides to achieve sustainability.
Renewable Energy. In the past nearly one-third of non-renewable energy has come from the ocean. In the future a similar amount of renewable energy must be developed offshore. While the mix is not yet known, it is certain that wind energy and hydrogen will both play significant roles.
Carbon Dioxide Removal. All the IPCC pathways to limit warming to 2 C require significant amounts of carbon removal to compensate for industries that are difficult to decarbonize while still achieving net carbon neutrality. Several promising pathways to large-scale marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) include ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE), electrochemical mCDR, and biological mCDR. Each pathway is unproven and currently the focus of many research and development efforts. All mCDR activities also require careful measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) to prove the effectiveness of the carbon removal. Effective MRV requires advances in standards, sensing techniques, robotic platforms, and models.
To achieve sustainability, we must simultaneously gather more resources from the ocean while also reducing the impact on biodiversity and environment. Interdisciplinary application of technology from many domains is key to meeting the opportunity of effectively managing ocean resources to achieve sustainability.
