Could climate change answer lie 20,000 leagues under the sea? By
RTCC Staff A new study has successfully sequestered carbon deep
under the ocean by triggering a phytoplankton bloom that then
sink to the seafloor. The experiment, published in Nature, added
iron compounds to a specific point in the Southern Ocean meeting
strict criteria set by the researchers. The iron fertilisation
triggered a phytoplankton bloom within an eddy current. After
four weeks there was a “mass mortality event”. At least half of
the plankton, and the carbon captured within it, sank to the
bottom of the ocean. The team, led by Victor Smetacek of the
Alfred Wegener Institute, concludes that there is potential for
iron fertilisation as a carbon capturing technique working over
a centuries long timescale. The practice is currently one of
many geoengineering measures banned from widespread use.
Locating a suitable current in the ocean is however an expensive
process, making this particular practice costly. Focus on CCS:
Who’s winning the