El Nino is an unseasonably warm Christmas (El Nino is "the baby boy") which puts a lot more water vapor from the ocean surface up into the jet stream to to spread it it around, resulting in a very wet spring.

There is a big fight brewing that crosses state lines and will draw in federal intervention. Water supplies are shrinking and and city/county/and state officials are fighting over the scraps. When snow falls in Utah and Colorado (snow = time-released water) how much of it belongs to California, Arizona, and Nevada?

You must secure a certain volume of water rights before a contractor can build a (profitable) housing tract. Large contractors make political contributions (and also build second homes for the politicians "parents", who put the home in a non-taxed trust for the kids)

I say the hell with it, let him try, but only because I think it will all be nothing more than a complete waste of time and money. There won't be enough effect to have any positive effects, so the negative is likely to be minimal too. Besides, he needs to put some of that blood money back into society somehow; why not waste it on a pointless project such as this?

Now to point out the fatal flaws (as I see them, at least) with the project itself:

Everything in physics is working against this - Convection being the biggest player. I see how they intend to 'force' the water down, but I can't see it happening to any appreciable (more accurately useful) amount. The idea is that the waves ride higher than mean level, breaking the levee of the tub, and providing a column of water that can exert pressure on the tub's "drain", forcing it down. Problem with this is, there's an insane amount of pressure at the bottom of the ocean. Add this to the fact that the water at the bottom is colder and more dense, and it's going to win the fight, and isn't going to be persuaded to leave the tube by the warmer water above it.

Second, why would you need a tube to bring the cold water back to the surface. Again, physics would do this for you. Even if you could force the warm water down hard enough, you're displacing the water at the bottom, and so it has nowhere else to go but toward the surface.

Third, how many of these things (not to mention how big they would each have to be) would it take to actually put the smallest ding in the surface temp? I like one of the comments someone made in the post - something to the effect of "it's like expecting a dime size hole in the ground to prevent someone from walking past it."

Fourth, Gates is an idiot technologically anyway. An excellent BS artist, salesman, and marketeer he may be, but technology and Gates should never be in the same sentence, unless he is being discredited by said sentence.

Ideas like this are a dime a dozen - How many have each of us come up with back in the days of choking on a bong? Most of us grew out of it, and subsequently realized just how flawed those ideas actually were. The big difference here is, this one got published. Why? Because it's Gates, and I'm sure he got "under the desk" somewhere to have his idea heard - it undoubtedly worked!

Someone once said, "In a world without fences, who needs Gates?"

Don't even GET ME started... LOL

Smells overunity,not even good for the newbie section.

I wouldn't be surprised if bill gates can make money from the 'idea'
That's his strong point,making big money from scrap.

Of course the gases would come out of the soup at different times/depths. Would there be enough depth to release the gas and have it reabsorb before it hit the surface? Or, would it need to be pressurized a bit more and sent back down?

As some suggested, what would be the result of the higher nutrient level? would it actually be a benefit? Or, would it be a liability.

One of the great things about an education is it teaches one how ignorant they really are. When I was in serious business, I was used by a company to 'save' lost projects. The bad thing about that is the bonuses were paid by how much you 'made' on the particular projects you were assigned. As I seemed to get projects that were in the RED and, most times, was finally able to fight the demons and most times show a profit, I did not feel I had been properly compensated for about 4000 hours a year workload. Work relations with others in parallel positions were not good because I didn't step on toes .... I stomped on feet to get folks attention.

I think that is where a project like this would end. If a really great engineer/problem solver did get it to work, the credit would be taken by the big fish. If it failed, it would be because the 'junior engineer' didn't perform. Of course he didn't follow the directives, he was too busy with the emergencies created!

I'm like the fellow who continued to ask about the bus that left one time zone at Noon ... and arrived 60 miles away at 12:10, "No, I don't want to be on the bus... but can I stay and watch it leave the station?"