Scientists Want Phytoplankton to Take Over the Waters, Induce Increased Carbon Cycling, Fight Climate Change

To remove more carbon from the atmosphere, some climate scientists have suggested raising the number of phytoplankton present in the ocean.

Iron is a crucial source of energy for the plankton community and is a well-known way to create a phytoplankton bloom.

Since many areas of the ocean are deficient in iron, even a modest addition of iron has the potential to greatly increase phytoplankton production and reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.

Half a Tanker of Iron

In 1988, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories oceanographer John Martin claimed that if someone gave him half a tanker of iron, he would somehow cause an ice age.

Although climate experts have talked about this approach quite a bit, there hasn't been a coordinated effort to investigate it further and treat it seriously.

Ken Buesseler, a marine radiochemist from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, is a scientist who has investigated the fertilization of the ocean with iron.

He investigated whether adding iron might change the flux of carbon into the deep ocean and discovered a sizable carbon-sequestering effect.

Buesseler said that his research, which was completed nearly 20 years ago, demonstrated unequivocally that increasing iron causes a greater uptake of carbon dioxide.

He continued by saying that the public is now much more aware of the climate crisis than they were 20 years ago.

The group's study examined the options available, including raising phytoplankton levels. Using the oceans to combat climate change has recently become a hot topic among climate scientists.

Using Iron

According to Buesseler, the experiments themselves wouldn't have any negative effects on the ocean's natural ecosystem, but they could provide important information about the long-term effects of adding more iron to the ocean on a much larger scale.

He doesn't think doing this on a large scale would have a significant negative impact, but it's crucial to research so they can be certain.

According to his "very conservative" estimate, if this process were to be carried out on a large scale, up to a gigaton of carbon dioxide could be absorbed annually.

Fuethermore, the scientist noted that changes in acidity and temperature will alter the kinds of plants and animals that can grow, but this is already happening.

Easy as 1, 2, 3

Iron fertilization would also be fairly simple to implement, according to David Siegel, a professor of marine science at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Using a 120-foot fishing boat, Siegel suggested placing the iron where it will be most useful for promoting phytoplankton growth.

According to Siegel, it can be accomplished fairly affordably.

Tens of thousands of carbon atoms can be fixed or soaked up by the water with just one iron atom added in the proper places.

Siegel emphasized the effectiveness of using vessels that discharge iron oxide into the water, even just iron ore, and result in blooms that can be observed from space.

Paris Accord Goals

The results would be felt fairly quickly.

Researchers who have previously added iron to seawater have observed that phytoplankton blooms can begin to appear within the first 24 hours.

The best place to introduce the iron would be in areas of the ocean that are far from land, primarily in the southern hemisphere, where it is least abundant.

Dust from the land that blows into the ocean is typically where iron ends up in the ocean.

Both Siegel and Buesseler emphasized that stopping the use of fossil fuels should still be the goal.

If we want to have any chance of stopping climate change, that is still crucial.

But to mitigate the worst impacts of climate change, strategies for removing carbon from the atmosphere must also be developed.

Later, Siegel added that even if economies decarbonize, the amount of carbon dioxide that must be taken away from the atmosphere to even come close to the Paris Accord goals is still around 20 gigatons, Yahoo News reported.