Iron Fertilization
Iron Fertilization is an idea being considered by many scientists in curbing the alarmingly dangerous 6. ... The process of “fertilizing” iron-lacking oceans, allows marine organisms called phytoplanktons to bloom, which strive off the metal. ... As Marine Scientist John Martin stated, when iron poor waters are fertilized with supplements, plankton would flourish and, through photosynthesis (Photosynthesis by definition is the process by which autotrophs bind light energy into the chemical bonds of food with the aid of chlorophyll and other substances. ... Normally dust-laden winds carry ample stocks of iron into the ocean. Nevertheless, the Southern Ocean, a portion of central Pacific, and some subartic waters do not support robust plankton communities because they are anemic or simply lacking iron. ... To answer that question, Ken Buesseler of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts and who works with SOFeX (Southern Ocean Iron Experiment), held the largest fertilization trial held to date. ... Richard Barber, who studies computer models of fertilization outcome at Duke University’s Marine Laboratory, calls iron fertilization “the world’s most successful mitigation process. ... To be most effective, large-scale ocean fertilization would have to be a continuous. ... The concern of other scientists is if iron fertilization should be instituted on a larger scale. ... This experiment proves something to Sallie Chisholm, an ocean ecologist at MIT, who says Buesseler’s numbers are just one more reason in a long list she keeps on why iron fertilization should not be scaled up for commercial purposes. ... Even she feels you cannot learn the long-term status of carbon or sustained fertilization. John Martin always worried that scientists would start large-scale iron fertilizations without necessarily understanding what it can do on scales ranging from single cells to ecosystems. Finally, there are possibly negative effects to iron fertilization. Besides the big expense, fertilization could generate greenhouse gases more powerful than carbon dioxide. ... That is why scientists and oceanographers must get all the answers before they take iron fertilization to the next level. In conclusion, the fact that carbon recycles so efficiently in the surface zone and the fact that the carbon has difficulty reaching the seafloor, and the possible negative effects towards global warming leaves many cracks in the future of iron fertilization. Despite the lackluster results of many of the experiments of SOFeX and others, many scientists still believe iron fertilization is the best hope for disposing the surplus of carbon dioxide.