BBefore the Met Office was established, and long after in seaside towns, kelp (Saccharin is very broad) was used to forecast the weather. Gathered from rock pools, it was often hung on a hook by the seaside homeowner’s door. If the seaweed was soft and damp from the humid air, it was sure to rain soon. If it were dry, the day would be beautiful.
This species has also long been harvested for food and as a cosmetic ingredient in Asia and the United Kingdom. More recently, algae have been suggested as a means of carbon sequestration comparable to tropical forests. Amazon gave a huge boost to efforts to test the idea last month by awarding a €1.5m (£1.3m) grant to set up a scale trial. a farm in the North Sea. The idea is to develop methods for growing and harvesting algae on a large scale from the thousands of turbines being built in the shallow waters of the continental shelf that can no longer be fished commercially.
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Sugar kelp grows especially rapidly in early spring and reaches 5 meters (16 feet) long in about four years. The trial by North Sea Farmers also aims to install floating solar panels and grow seashells in the unused area between the turbines, but will primarily focus on harnessing the potential of algae to slow climate breakdown.