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An ocean thermal energy conversion power plant built by Makai Ocean Engineering went operational in Hawaii in August 2015. The governor of Hawaii, David Ige, "flipped the switch" to activate the plant. This is the first true closed-cycle ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) plant to be connected to a U.S. electrical grid.
Marine energy, also known as ocean energy, ocean power, or marine and hydrokinetic energy, refers to energy harnessed from waves, tides, salinity gradients, and temperature differences in the ocean. The movement of water in the world's oceans stores vast amounts of kinetic energy , which can be converted into electricity to power homes ...
[10] [11] This process, referred to as chemosynthesis, usually occurs deep in the ocean at hydrothermal vents that produce heat and chemicals such as hydrogen, hydrogen sulfide and methane. [10] Chemosynthetic bacteria can use the energy in the bonds of the hydrogen sulfide and oxygen to convert carbon dioxide to glucose, releasing water and ...
Those currents comprise half of the global thermohaline circulation that includes the flow of major ocean currents, the other half being the Southern Ocean overturning circulation. [2] The AMOC is composed of a northward flow of warm, more saline water in the Atlantic's upper layers and a southward, return flow of cold, salty, deep water.
Extensive mixing therefore takes place between the ocean basins, reducing differences between them and making the Earth's oceans a global system. [3] The water in these circuits transport both energy (in the form of heat) and mass (dissolved solids and gases) around the globe.
The ocean absorbs part of the energy from sunlight as heat and is initially absorbed by the surface. [13] Eventually a part of this heat also spreads to deeper water. Greenhouse gases absorb extra energy from the sun, which is again absorbed by the oceans, leading to an increase in the amount of heat stored by the oceans. The increase of ...
Winds drive ocean currents in the upper 100 meters of the ocean's surface. However, ocean currents also flow thousands of meters below the surface. These deep-ocean currents are driven by differences in the water's density, which is controlled by temperature (thermo) and salinity (haline). This process is known as thermohaline circulation.
Each year, the ocean and atmosphere exchange large amounts of carbon. A major controlling factor in oceanic-atmospheric carbon exchange is thermohaline circulation. In regions of ocean upwelling, carbon-rich water from the deep ocean comes to the surface and releases carbon into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.