Reviving the dead zone of the Gulf of St. Lawrence

Oxygen could be injected into bodies of water where it disappears, scientists say.

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The hypoxic zone, or dead zone, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence now covers an area of ​​9,000 square kilometers.

Radio-Canada

Oxygen created during the production of green hydrogen could slow the expansion of the “dead zone” of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, according to a new study by Canadian scientists.

A dead zone, or hypoxic zone, is created when there is no more oxygen, or not enough, in deep water.

These Dead zones – which exist elsewhere in the world, such as the Gulf of Mexico and the Baltic Sea – threaten marine life that needs oxygen and reduce habitat for species that move around, making them more vulnerable to predators.

In 2003, the Gulf of St. Lawrence dead zone was 1,300 square kilometers in size. Twenty later, it covers 9,000 square kilometers.

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The Gulf of St. Lawrence seen from the North Shore. (Archive photo)

Green hydrogen is a popular technology as a solution for decarbonizing industries and transportation. It is a green alternative when making fuel from electricity from 100% renewable sources.

Green hydrogen is made when hydrogen and oxygen in water molecules are separated using an electric current, a process called electrolysis.

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Doug Wallace, a chemical oceanographer at Dalhousie University in Halifax, believes it would be possible to recover this oxygen obtained during the electrolysis of water and inject it into the marine bodies in a state of #x27;hypoxia, these famous dead zones, which appear in particular due to climate change.

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Chemical oceanographer and researcher Doug Wallace is a professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax. (File photo)

The amount of oxygen obtained as a by-product of the production of hydrogen by electrolysis of water would be more than sufficient, according to our calculations, to compensate for the annual loss of oxygen that we have observed for several years, said Professor Wallace.

He proposed this solution in a study carried out with colleagues at Dalhousie University and McGill University, published in December 2023.

In October 2021, 130 kilometers off the coast of Stephenville, Newfoundland, scientists injected an inert gas that moves like dissolved oxygen at a depth of 250 meters into the Cabot Strait in order to follow its trail. /p>Open in full screen mode

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Justin Trudeau visited a green industries fair on August 23, 2022 in Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador. Canada and Germany signed an agreement on hydrogen production during this visit.

This experiment, funded by the Canadian Network for Forecasting, Intervention and Observation of the Marine Environment as well as by the Réseau Québec maritime, allowed researchers to observe how the gas It moved and mixed with the waters over the next year. They concluded that oxygen injected into the Gulf of St. Lawrence would take 18 to 48 months to reach the dead zones.

It Questions still remain to be resolved regarding the feasibility of using such a process on a large scale as well as the financing of this operation. We will also need to better understand the impacts of this approach on the environment.

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Doug Wallace believes that the Bedford Basin, in Halifax, would be an excellent place to test this method. (Archive photo)

I believe the risks are small, but they need to be planned for and studied, notes oceanographer Doug Wallace.

Researchers nevertheless believe that it is a solution to be explored in an attempt to resolve one of the greatest dangers threatening the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Doug Wallace suggests that Bedford Basin in Halifax serve as a testing ground. In recent years, some deep-sea areas have periodically become hypoxic.

Several aspects, particularly the effects on marine life and the feasibility of various methods injection, could be tested in a small basin like Bedford, he said.

According to the information byPaul Withers,ofCBC