In September 2007, Lovelock and Chris Rapley proposed the construction of ocean pumps to pump water up from below the thermocline to "fertilize algae in the surface waters and encourage them to bloom". The basic idea was to accelerate the transfer of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to the ocean by increasing photosynthesis and increasing the export of organic carbon (as "marine snow") to the deep ocean. A scheme similar to that proposed by Lovelock and Rapley is being independently developed by a commercial company.