Sea multicopter

Abstract

A large nuclear-powered ship, such as a repurposed aircraft carrier or a large cargo ship, is outfitted with a plurality of large downward-directed subsurface mixer propellers secured on its sides and/or ends. The propellers are positioned below the bottom of the ship and have blade lengths in the range of 10-60 m. They are coupled to the ship's steam turbines by drive shafts and gearing compatible with the required propeller power and rotational rates, typically 25-150 MW per mixer propeller and with blade tip speeds typically around 40 m/s. They produce a large-diameter low-velocity downward plume of surface sea waters below the ship that induces upwelling of cold nutrient-rich deep waters in areas where the cyclone genesis index is high. The downward mass-flow magnitude (typically 3-30 times the flow rate over Niagara Falls, but at only a few m/s) is on the scale needed for a small number of such ships to essentially end cyclone genesis in the Atlantic. At the same time, the induced upwelling of nutrient-rich deep waters is expected to lead to the newly mixed areas becoming highly productive fishing areas.