Ocean Iron Fertilization: Removing Greenhouse Gases?

Some companies are lobbying to try a new technology that could end global warming. Forever.

One company that seems to be on the brink of actually doing it is Climos, a company that is exploring a number of processes to naturally remove large amounts of greenhouse gasses from the atmosphere. The company is currently focusing on a system that they call ocean fertilization, by which the company would introduce an iron compound into the ocean, in certain areas, allowing a stimulation of plankton growth.

As the plankton grow they filter carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. When the plankton die they sink to the ocean floor, theoretically effectively storing the carbon dioxide. These tests have been made for at least twenty years, but no one is sure if this is an effective carbon storage technology long term.

Ocean iron fertilization works by increasing the production of natural phytoplankton in the open ocean. Phytoplankton, at this time, absorb approximately half of the worlds CO2 production. They have a sixty day life cycle, in which they bloom, mature and die, during which time they absorb the greenhouse gasses. When they die and sink into the depths of the oceans, taking the CO2 with them. This is a natural process, and considered to be one of the oldest ecological systems on the earth.

Phytoplankton need several nutrients to thrive. Iron is one of these nutrients, and the scarcest in the ocean basins. In ocean fertilization techniques ships would apply trace amounts of iron in these areas. By doing this they hope to provide the iron necessary to cause a large bloom.

This has been done twelve times in the last twenty five years, successfully triggering large bloom events, and removing significant amounts of carbon dioxide from the air. However, there have been no significant, long term, or ongoing studies on the effects of these events. The events are normally logged for only the first few weeks.

Environmental groups are skeptical of this plan. The option is very expensive to carry out, using funds that might better be used for research in other areas.

Some research has indicated that even to remove thirty percent of the greenhouse gasses that we produce, bloom would need to be continually produced on an area larger the entire area of the Southern Ocean.

Critics wonder if these blooms can be controlled. Harmful plankton blooms cause red tides, and other toxic episodes. These are, as yet, uncontrollable and must be waited out. Will scientists be able to control the types of bloom that they cause by ocean fertilization?

Environmentalists are concerned about changing an eco-system so radically. They wonder what the world wide effects of ocean iron fertilization will be on the natural bio-system.Oxygen levels deep within the ocean in areas of heavy bloom could be depleted, killing fish and natural species of plants in those areas.

The question remains, does man have the ethical right to knowingly significantly change his environment?