Environmental Properties of Coastal Waters in Mamala Bay, Oahu, Hawaii, at the Future Site of a Seawater Air Conditioning Outfall

Abstract

Environmental properties of coastal waters in Mamala Bay, Oahu, Hawaii, at the future site of a seawater air conditioning outfall. Oceanography 28(2):230-239,

Temperature variability caused by internal tides in the coral reef ecosystem of Hanauma bay, Hawai‘i

“…The AUV data indicate that the cool water from depth entering the bay is associated with higher chlorophyll concentrations, as temperature and chlorophyll were negatively correlated over the course of the survey. This is consistent with profiles of chlorophyll in Mamala Bay, which found the chlorophyll maximum to be 60.8 ± 13.8 m at the 100 m isobath (Comfort et al 2015). Temperature was also negatively correlated with optical backscatter, showing that cooler water entering the bay may bring an increase in small, suspended particles.…”

“…The semidiurnal internal tides generated off of Makapu'u Point, which have been observed in Mamala Bay (Alford et al, 2006;Eich et al, 2004;Hamilton et al, 1995;Martini et al, 2007) (Comfort et al, 2015; data available at http://hahana.soest.hawaii.edu/cmoreswac/data/data.html) both show that the temperature change over the top 100 m of the water column increases from less than 0.5 °C in February/March to more than 2 °C in May. The similarities of the seasonal changes in the temperature profiles at the two sites in two different years imply that the water column offshore of Hanauma Bay likely exhibits similar features.…”

Cool as a (sea) cucumber? Exploring public attitudes toward seawater air conditioning in Hawai‘i

“…Other potential negative impacts of SWAC include damage to coral reefs from laying the intake and outflow pipes and the growth of algae due to the higher nutrient content of the outflow water [19] (deep seawater has a higher concentration of phosphorus and nitrogen than surface water). Both of these issues can be avoided by appropriate project design (i.e., by laying the pipes in areas clear of sensitive reef environments and positioning the outflow pipe deep enough so as not to stimulate algae growth).…”

Waterbodies thermal energy based systems interactions with marine environment — A review

“…Anthropogenic global warming is a direct consequence of activities such as burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas), which causes large emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) into the atmosphere (Houghton, 2005, Meckling, 2018. Renewable energy technologies that exploit energy from sources such as solar, wind, wave, and ocean thermal energies were developed to address the environment challenges from impacts of carbon-based fuel GHG (Ullah et al, 2017, Comfort et al, 2015. The uncertainty of increasing oil prices and recent advances in efficiency of renewable energy technologies coupled with increased installation capacities have accelerated development of competitiveness of renewable energy alternatives in the global energy market (Gohar Ali et al, 2020, Arent et al, 2011.…”

“…A combined system that employs an offshore wind-driven hydraulic pump to supply high-pressure deep seawater to a land base cooling plant (SWAC or SWHP) is proposed in many studies such as Sant and Farrugia (2013), Sant et al (2014), Galea and Sant (2016a) , Galea and Sant (2016b), (Buhagiar and Sant, 2014). With the growth of marine renewable energy technologies, concerns regarding their impacts on the sustainability of marine environments have been raised (Comfort et al, 2015, Pelc and Fujita, 2002, Comfort and Vega, 2011, Boehlert and Gill, 2010, Gill, 2005. To address these concerns, it is critical to investigate the environmental footprint of existing WTEBSs in the effort to minimize the impacts for future applications.…”