An American-based scientist with a speculative idea for fighting global warming, and potentially hurricanes, has been to Bermuda twice to test his science ? and so far the results are lacklustre.

His ideas though are inspired.

Phil Kithil runs a private research firm in Santa Fe, New Mexico called Atmocean.

He thinks he can capture greenhouse atmospheric gases then send them to the bottom of the ocean using salps ? a naturally occurring organism.

?In order to prevent greenhouse gases it has to go somewhere,? explained Dr. Anthony Knapp from the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences.

?And the biggest depository is the ocean floor, the deeper ocean.?

Dr. Knapp and his researchers have assisted Mr. Kithil?s team when they travel to Bermuda.

The main purpose of the trip is to test an elaborate pump system to see if it can suck cold water from the deep legions of the ocean up to the surface.

That?s an important step in the process before salps enter the picture.

Dr. Knapp said he knew there were challenges before the testing began: ?Does the pump work? Is the pump durable?

?We were interested too to find out whether this pump could work.?

Both times the team visited Bermuda, the pump failed mechanically, although published results on the Internet suggest the pumps ?actually worked and brought cold water up?.

Mr. Kithil?s idea involves a vexing eco-engineering to-do list. The pump is just one element.

Salps roam the ocean eating up algae soaked with carbon-dioxide. Then whatever is ingested gets excreted like a pellet which sinks to the ocean bottom.

Essentially that pellet sends harmful CO2 so deep it would no longer be a menace to the environment ? at least that?s the scientific speculation of Atmocean.

The idea is only proven in theory, not in practice.

For it to work Mr. Kithil needs to increase the ocean?s salp population. To increase salp population, he has to increase its food supply. And to accomplish a larger food supply, he has to increase the amount of algae.

It?s a journey of perplexing science, nonetheless, Mr. Kithil believes he can do it, first by increasing the amount of algae with the aforementioned pump system ? which so far has failed mechanically in tests off Bermuda, according to Dr. Knapp.

The pump is designed to deliver algae-producing nutrients from the depths of the ocean to the water?s surface.

The pump is powered by the force of the waves, and its tube expands up to 1,000 meters ? bringing that cold nutrient-rich water to the surface.

The pump action is supposed to promote an aggressive growth of algae, and ultimately increase the salp population.

Simultaneously, the increased algae will allow more atmospheric gases to be absorbed ? lessening the effects of global warming.

The success of the science depends on whether the algae quantities increase and whether salps are lured for feeding.

At this point there appear to be more nay sayers than believers.

?It?s not that simple,? biologist Larry Madin told the BBC from his post at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.

Salps have proved they just don?t like to live in certain places, that?s why Mr. Madin said, ?you can?t count on the fact that these organisms will show up?.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory scientist Jim Bishop put it this way: ?The ocean is such an alien system for us to be tinkering with based on the current level of science.?

Mr. Kithil?s Atmocean team seem aware of the doubters and offered this reply in their study: ?Although the undertaking is daring and costly, if successful, this technology offers potential enormous benefits.?

One of the those ?potential? benefits may come in the form of hurricane de-intensification.

If these long pumps can efficiently bring cold water from deep levels of the ocean and cool the surface, that theory should also make hurricanes weaker because without warm water a hurricane can?t intensify as it moves toward land.

It?s the potential hurricane fighting element that has brought Atmocean to Bermuda and will probably bring them back in the future.

As long as it tries to fight hurricanes it should get the backing of Bermudians and the insurance industry ? the former is often the target of such storms, the latter stands to gain financially if hurricanes can be successfully de-intensified.