Report nixes Geritol fix for global warming

Journal Article · Fri Sep 27 00:00:00 EDT 1991 · Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/science.253.5027.1490· OSTI ID:5827970

Roberts, L

Several years ago John Martin of the Moss Landing Marine Laboratory in California suggested a quick fix to the greenhouse problem: dump iron into the Southern Ocean near Antarctica. That, he said, would trigger a massive bloom of the ocean's microscopic plants, which in turn would suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and help reduce global warming. His idea ignited a firestorm of controversy that rages on today. While the idea quickly won supporters - including some prominent members of the National Academy of Sciences - much of the oceanographic community was incensed, arguing that you don't tinker with a perfectly health ecosystem to clean up humanity's mess. Now the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) has a report that represents the views of much of the oceanographic community. In the report, released in late summer, ASLO trounces the idea of fertilizing the oceans with iron as a greenhouse fix, as expected. But in an unexpected twist, the society endorses a small-scale experiment in which iron would be added to the open ocean. The idea isn't to engineer the oceans, but to test the hypothesis that might answer one of the longstanding puzzles in biological oceanography: why do the phytoplankton of the Southern Ocean, as well as those in parts of the subarctic and equatorial Pacific, grow so poorly, even though the waters are rich in nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen The answer could shed light not only on how the food web operates, but on the global carbon cycle as well.

• OSTI ID: 5827970
• Journal Information: Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States), Vol. 253:5027; ISSN 0036-8075
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ANTARCTICA
CARBON CYCLE
CARBON DIOXIDE
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
GREENHOUSE EFFECT
PHYTOPLANKTON
PRODUCTIVITY
GLOBAL ASPECTS
IRON
SEAS
ANTARCTIC REGIONS
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
CLIMATIC CHANGE
ELEMENTS
METALS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PLANKTON
PLANTS
POLAR REGIONS
SURFACE WATERS
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
540320* - Environment
Aquatic- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)