Air or nitrox in forest?

[Mustard Dave]

What about a compressor on a boat? A lot of the Earth's oxygen comes from algae.

I am no scientist, but I imagine any oxygen produced in a forest is very quickly diluted by natural air movement and any measured difference would be tiny. Oxygen levels may be slightly higher, but the affect on your dive planning would be negligible.

 

[Steve_C]

You said deep. I will assume that you are on the ground. The photosynthesis takes place near the tree tops. So the question is which direction the air flows. Photosynthesis uses energy and has a cooling effect. So I am guessing that the enriched air is cooler and will sink towards the ground. That means that the air will be slightly enriched. Impossible to come up with a number since it depends on so many factors.

On a related point I read some where that a mature major forest tree, like an oak, has a cooling effect equal to a decent sized air conditioner. Was as I recall a few hundred BTU.

 

[miketsp]

I found this extremely doubtful statement (my own opinion) on an Oxygen Therapy site:

"Oxygen is fundamental necessity. Humans need oxygen to survive. There is 21 percent oxygen in the air that is all around us. While people with healthy lung function will find that air holds enough oxygen for them to breathe, for other people with respiratory diseases, lung diseases and other health conditions, the oxygen in the air around them is not enough and they need support.Of course, the air that exists on the ocean or wide open spaces and in the rainforest is very healthy (containing between 30 percent and 35 percent oxygen), the average individual does not live in those optimum conditions, but in cities where the air is polluted with industrial smog and cars and the oxygen level is below 21 percent. This explains why people feel refreshed after a trip to the ocean and forest, especially if that happens to be the Caribbean or Mexico."

Oxygen Bar | Our Better Bodies

 

[drbill]

Gulp, my near desert climate creates a situation where the island is nearly devoid of real trees. Fortunately our dive compressors are all located adjacent to the ocean so maybe the algae compensates! I guess I should avoid those really deep dives from now on.

 

[Lorenzoid]

If a compressor fills in a forest, but no one is around to see it, did it really fill the tank?

 

[knotical]

Neat question.

These folks: http://researchpub.org/journal/jonares/number/vol1-no2/vol1-no2-3.pdf measured higher levels of O2 under trees than not.

A mature forest might be consuming oxygen as things on the ground rot, so perhaps a tree farm would be better.

I suspect you’d have a small increase, perhaps one or two percent, but would love to see more data.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

Also, the number of wild forest creatures in the area sucking up the oxygen should also be factored. In addition, if the compressor is gas or diesel operated, it will be burning up some of the O2, so that is another variable. And of course, with animals there is always the presence of methane from gas discharges. All things considered, it's not really a question worth considering.
DivemasterDennis

 

[DKL]

So if the compressor is deep on a cattle farm, what would the mix be?

 

[Storker]

Seriously???

I hope not.

 

[shoredivr]

Neat question.

These folks: http://researchpub.org/journal/jonares/number/vol1-no2/vol1-no2-3.pdf measured higher levels of O2 under trees than not.

A mature forest might be consuming oxygen as things on the ground rot, so perhaps a tree farm would be better.

I suspect you’d have a small increase, perhaps one or two percent, but would love to see more data.

So at street level the city trees in Khartoum State (including acacia and ficus) raised the O2 levels between 0.2% and 0.9%. City trees are nowhere near as dense as a Forest. That was an interesting study, Knotical.
I live in a 23 acre maple sugar Forest so am finding this fascinating.