Quote:
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Originally Posted by peteshimmon
I am not sure how large a carbon sink the
oceans are but I have got the idea the
creatures grow carbonate shells which fall to
the ocean bottom on death. So Wow! this must
be important for removing CO2. And I do not
think the creatures get off lightly when
the props of a supertanker or freightliner
pass. Think of the forces involved in moving
such masses against their drag in the water!
Surely this question has been looked at
quantitivly.
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But think about what you're proposing. I'm not even going to try to go into this in the typical style of providing references that I normally use. Lets just stick with the hypothetical format you've proposed this in. What makes you think that phytoplankton can be damaged by props? Why wouldn't they just get twisted around as the props rotate through the water. You're talking about objects that exist on two totally different scales.
Think of it this way - put a styrofoam cup in a bucket of water and hack at it with a butter knife. Or course that will damage it. Now grind another cup into little pieces and sprinkle them in the water. Will any significant fraction of the little pieces be damages further by the knife?
That's the case you'll need to make. And then you'd have to show that a significant fraction of the world's oceans are affected.