Changing the ocean’s chemical and biological makeup could force it to pull vast amounts of planet-warming carbon from the atmosphere. But is that a line we want to cross?
very oceanographer I know who is studying the controversial idea of coaxing the ocean to absorb extra carbon dioxide from the atmosphere remembers the moment they decided to start this contentious work. For me, it came during the Pacific Northwest heat wave of June 2021, which sent temperatures soaring above 49 degrees Celsius and set boreal forests ablaze.
Serious concerns about interfering with nature grew, however, and nations worldwide signed a 2008 amendment to the London Convention. It prohibited further ocean-fertilization experiments beyond “small-scale, scientific research studies within coastal waters,” which chilled enthusiasm for such work. For the next decade researchers conducted studies mostly in virtual oceans, using models.
Biological techniques depend primarily on plant life, large and small. One approach is to cultivate macroalgae such as kelp—often compared with planting trees on land. As the plants grow, they store carbon in their tissues. For sequestration, the plants would be sunk to the seafloor, where the carbon might settle in sediment or remain dissolved in deep ocean waters.
To assess additionality and durability in the vast and turbulent ocean, the research community will have to depend on a blend of direct observations and modeling because the complete impact of any mCDR deployment will play out over months or years. It will occur over areas of ocean too extensive to be directly observed and at levels too small to detect. A whole new generation of “applied ocean biogeochemists” is needed for this task.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Al Medical Engineering at School of Biomedical Engineering - Beijing, China job with Tsinghua UniversityThe Role Recognizing the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence in MedTech, the School of BME at Tsinghua University is thrilled to announce the availability of several faculty positions in the emerging research direction of AI Medical Engineering.
Read more »
San Francisco Warned 16 Foot Waves Could Pull People Off Beach Into OceanThe waves were generated by an offshore storm related to an atmospheric river that hit the Pacific Northwest over the weekend.
Read more »
Watch SpaceX’s Starship splash down in Indian Ocean at end of fifth testWe heard a lot about SpaceX's spectacular catch of the Super Heavy rocket last week, but what happened to the Starship spacecraft that it put in orbit?
Read more »
San Diego to give public look at final design of Ocean Beach Pier replacementThe safest and most cost-effective option for the Ocean Beach Pier is to keep the structure closed to public access while the city moves forward with a…
Read more »
First-of-Its-Kind Glowing Sea Creature Discovered in Ocean’s ‘Midnight Zone’A nudibranch from the midnight zone has fingers on its tail, collects food with a hood, and glows.
Read more »
Ghostly Creature Deep in The Ocean Is Like Nothing We've Seen BeforeThe Best in Science News and Amazing Breakthroughs
Read more »