A team of UK scientists have discovered a natural process that
could delay, or even end, the threat of global warming. The
researchers, aboard the Royal Navy’s HMS Endurance, have found
that melting icebergs off the coast of Antarctica are releasing
millions of tiny particles of iron into the southern Ocean,
helping to create huge ‘blooms’ of algae that absorb carbon
emissions. The algae then sinks to the icy depths, effectively
removing CO2 from the atmosphere for hundreds of years.
According to lead researcher, Prof. Rob Raiswell of Leeds
University, “The Earth itself seems to want to save us.”
Scientists have known for some time that artificially created
algal blooms could be used to absorb greenhouse gases, but the
technique has been banned for fear of causing unforeseen side
effects in fragile ecosystems. However, based on the UK team’s
evidence that the process has been occurring naturally for
millions of years, and on a wide scale, the UN has given the
green light for a ground-breaking experiment later