The release of compressed air in the water adds oxygen to the local environment.  This may be particularly useful in areas that have become a dead zone due to eutrophication. 
Air curtains may have another application. Dolphin and whale beaching has increased with the rise in ocean temperatures. On Thursday February 12th, 2017, a group of nearly 400 whales beached near Golden Bay on the tip of New Zealand’s South Island, following a similar incident earlier that week. The simplicity of an air curtain system, requiring only air compressors and perforated hoses, could allow for rapid deployment and create aerated zones of oxygenated seawater during a marine emergency.
Air curtains are also used to control the release of smoke particles into the environment. After a natural disaster, or during brush clearing activities, debris is disposed of by incineration in either a ceramic or earth pit containment. Similar to an air curtain to separate indoor air from outdoor air, for instance in restaurants and walk-in refrigerators, a powerful air curtain can defeat the chimney effect of the incineration process to eliminate any smoke from a brush incinerator. The air curtain acts as a lid on the process, and forces the smoke back into the fuel bed for a cleaner burn.