OCN102_HW9
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University of Washington *
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Course
102
Subject
Geography
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Feb 20, 2024
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docx
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OCN 102
Module 9
Assignment 9: Blue Carbon, Geoengineering, and Renewable Energy
Goals:
●
To give students practice evaluating the scientific accuracy of information in online media
●
To give students practice reading and analyzing data from info graphics.
Procedure:
●
Read the following articles, watch the videos, and listen to the podcast below to answer the assignment questions. Blue carbon – a story from Snohomish estuary, Washington by EarthCorps (5:47 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vzn5XO_GYL0
Coastal Blue Carbon Fact Sheet by Restore America’s estuaries
https://estuaries.org/bluecarbon/
Three extreme climate fixes – Geoengineering by SciShow (4:25 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8-ag2mAoWk
Researching how to fight climate change with geoengineering by NPR (3:28 minutes)
https://www.npr.org/2017/12/17/571443704/researching-fighting-climate-change-with-
geoengineering
Ocean energy systems (7:42 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1vzxhiqOXQ
How hydrokinetic energy works by Union of Concerned Scientists
https://www.ucsusa.org/clean-energy/renewable-energy/how-hydrokinetic-energy-
works#.Wo2p5xPwaV6
OCN 102
Module 9
Questions:
1.
(1 pt.) What benefits do estuaries provide us? Select all that apply. Answer choices: Provides habitat for commercial fish species Improves water quality Act as great carbon sinks Protects our coastlines 2.
(1 pt.) Which of the following is the correct definition for blue carbon?
Answer choices: Blue carbon is the carbon that is released from blue surfaces on land.
Blue carbon is the carbon that is released from cyanobacteria in the surface ocean.
Blue carbon is the carbon that is stored in coastal and marine ecosystems.
Blue carbon is the carbon that is stored in whales and other large marine mammals.
3.
(1 pt.) Fill in the following blanks with the best word choice from the list below.
________soil oxygen, _______ productivity and ________ soil build up makes wetlands good at capturing and storing carbon. Answer choices:
Low, Low , Low
Low, Low, High
Low, High, High High, Low, High
High, High, High
Based on the below graphs, answer the next two questions,
OCN 102
Module 9
4.
(1 pt.) Which two ecosystems have the most amount of carbon stored as soil? Answer choices: Tropical forest, Mangroves
Mangroves, Salt Marsh Seagrass, Salt Marsh
5.
(1 pt.) Which two ecosystems have the most amount of carbon stored as biomass? Answer choices: Tropical forest, Mangroves Mangroves, Salt Marsh
Seagrass, Salt Marsh
6.
(1 pt.) Which ecosystem has the greatest ability to capture carbon?
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OCN 102
Module 9
Answer choices: Salt Marsh
Mangroves Tropical forest
Seagrass
7.
(3 pts.) Name three
proposed geoengineering solutions that have the potential to combat effects of climate change. For each solution, state one conceivable disadvantage. -
Designer clouds (cloud whitening): lead to less rainfall on a global scale
-
Fertilizing the oceans: decomposing algae blooms can lead to dead zones where
fish and other organisms can’t survive
-
Release of sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere: global decrease in rainfall or could cool the equator more than the poles, changing regional climates
8.
(1 pt.) Which of these provide renewable energy from the oceans? Select all that apply. Answer 1: Tidal energy Answer 2: Wave energy Answer 3: Energy from salinity differences Answer 4: Energy from temperature differences Answer 5: Energy from phytoplankton
OCN 102
Module 9
9.
(2 pts.) Describe two
major considerations before adopting large-scale implementation of hydrokinetic energy. 1)
Weighing environmental impacts of hydrokinetic energy against the environmental impacts of other available energy technologies 2)
Further researching environmental impacts that may result from use of wave and current energy
10. (3 pts.) This assignment and module covers three broad kinds of solutions that scientists have proposed to mitigate the impacts of climate change by reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide namely; 1.
Preserving coastal blue carbon ecosystems
2.
Geoengineering projects such as Iron fertilization 3.
Using ocean energy power as a renewable energy source Which solution would you advocate for to mitigate climate change? Explain the reasoning for your choice by discussing both the potential benefits and costs.
While I think all three solutions are important to be further researched on to be implemented, I’d advocate for using ocean energy power as a renewable energy source.
I’d advocate for this solution because we have greater access to the ocean and more room to investigate it. The use of ocean energy has been around for a relatively long time, which makes me feel that there’s already an existing baseline of how it works and could be used and further developed on. The potential benefits of using ocean energy by
implementing it would be a decrease in carbon emissions along with the emission of other pollutants such as mercury and particulate matter. However, the potential costs of this are the cost of conducting studies alongside building infrastructures, unknown environmental impacts these energy sources could cause, and pushback from coastal communities and workers on these developments by limiting usage and enjoyment of their waters.