NEWEST BAD IDEA FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

Dumping iron at sea can bury carbon for centuries, study shows; Iron fertilisation creates algae blooms that later die off and sink, taking the absorbed carbon deep towards the ocean floor

Damian Carrington, 18 July 2012 (UK Guardian)

“Dumping iron into the sea can bury carbon dioxide for centuries, potentially helping reduce the impact of climate change, according to a major new study. The work shows for the first time that much of the algae that blooms when iron filings are added dies and falls into the deep ocean.

“Geoengineering – technologies aimed at alleviating global warming – are controversial, with critics warning of unintended environmental side effects or encouraging complacency in global deals to cut carbon emissions…A 2009 report from the Royal Society, the UK's science academy, concluded that while cutting emissions is the first priority, careful research into geoengineering was required in case drastic measures – such as trying to block sunlight by pumping sulphate into the atmosphere– were one day needed…”

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“…[Researchers] added seven tonnes of iron sulphate to the ocean near Antarctica, where iron levels are extremely low…[The nutrient] prompted a massive bloom of phytoplankton…within a week…[The diatom phytoplankton] began to die after three weeks…sank…[and took] the carbon they had incorporated with them…The scientists chose the experiment location carefully…After a month of monitoring…the team concluded at least half of the bloom had fallen to depths below 1,000m and [a substantial portion was likely to have reached the sea floor]…

“…[T]he carbon is therefore likely to be kept out of the atmosphere for many centuries or longer…Other researchers…[warned] iron fertilisation of the ocean as [may not be] a useful geoengineering technique…[because the] ocean's capacity for carbon sequestration in low-iron regions is just a fraction of anthropogenic CO2 emissions, and…lasts only for decades to centuries…”

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