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Jul 25th

Iron dumping in ocean provides global warming answers but maybe not solutions

Monday, 23 July 2012 14:15
BY MIKE OLIVA
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

The build up of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is the culprit for higher global temperatures, more commonly known as global warming. Now an international team of scientists has finally published the results of a 2004 experiment that studied the effects of sinking carbon to the ocean floor. The study was the first convincing evidence that carbon, absorbed by algae, can sink to the ocean bed and impact global warming.

The research involved dumping seven tons of dissolved iron into an ocean eddy in the Southern Ocean off Antarctica at the end of the summer season. The theory was that fertilizing oceans with iron would reduce carbon at the surface of the water, and prompt the growth of phytoplankton.

The phytoplankton, made up of algae known for their carbon-trapping capacity, would then in turn carry the carbon to the bottom of the ocean floor when they die, reports The Christian Science Monitor.

Lead researcher Victor Smetacek explained that if the carbon settles into the deep ocean, it might not reach the surface for centuries or millennia, according to CBS News.

The study remains cautious about its findings, looking to provide only a temporary fix for global warming, not a solution. The technique is till controversial because of concerns for marine life.

The data suggest iron fertilization could trap only about 10 percent of current carbon dioxide emissions, explained study co-author Dieter Wolf-Gladrow of the Wegener Institute, to National Geographic News.

Iron seeding, he added, "cannot provide a solution for our CO2 problem."

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