[Coral-List] Fertilizing the ocean with iron to remove CO2

richardl at fiu.edu richardl at fiu.edu
Thu Oct 11 10:10:45 EDT 2007


In response to John Martin's suggestion about iron dosing of the Pacific ocean to lower CO2, ASLO held a special symposium in 1991 to address the issue.  There were about 60 invited participants.  We all agreed that iron fertilization at such a scale was a poor idea with many possible repercussions, including creating anoxic zones due to decomposition of the spiked organic matter that would result. A special issue of L&O also came out of this symposium.  
Laurie

---- Original message ----
>Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2007 17:35:40 -0400
>From: Charles Booth <booth at easternct.edu>  
>Subject: [Coral-List] Fertilizing the ocean with iron to remove CO2  
>To: <mekvinga at yahoo.com>
>Cc: "coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov" <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
>
>Dear Melissa,
>You are remembering correctly ­ it was John Martin of the Moss Landing
>Marine Laboratory who suggested (tongue-in-cheek, apparently) that given a
>shipload of iron ore he could bring on another ice age. A lot of scientists
>took him seriously and started looking at iron-limitations to primary
>productivity in the tropical Pacific.  Here are a few references on this:
>
>Report Nixes "Geritol" Fix for Global Warming
>LESLIE ROBERTS
>Science 27 September 1991 253: 1490-1491
>
>Iron Fertilization: A Tonic, but No Cure for the Greenhouse
>Richard A. Kerr
>Science 25 February 1994 263: 1089-1090
>
>The Effects of Iron Fertilization on Carbon Sequestration in the Southern
>Ocean
>Ken O. Buesseler, John E. Andrews, Steven M. Pike, and Matthew A. Charette
>Science 16 April 2004 304: 414-417
>
>Dis-Crediting Ocean Fertilization
>Sallie W. Chisholm, Paul G. Falkowski, and John J. Cullen
>Science 12 October 2001 294: 309-310
>
>The Effects of Iron Fertilization on Carbon Sequestration in the Southern
>Ocean
>Ken O. Buesseler, John E. Andrews, Steven M. Pike, and Matthew A. Charette
>Science 16 April 2004 304: 414-417
>
>Mesoscale Iron Enrichment Experiments 1993-2005: Synthesis and Future
>Directions
>P. W. Boyd, T. Jickells, C. S. Law, S. Blain, E. A. Boyle, K. O. Buesseler,
>K. H. Coale, J. J. Cullen, H. J. W. de Baar, M. Follows, M. Harvey, C.
>Lancelot, M. Levasseur, N. P. J. Owens, R. Pollard, R. B. Rivkin, J.
>Sarmiento, V. Schoemann, V. Smetacek, S. Takeda, A. Tsuda, S. Turner, and A.
>J. Watson
>Science 2 February 2007 315: 612-617
>
>Chuck Booth
>*   *   *   *   *   *   *
>Dr. Charles E. Booth
>Dept. of Biology
>Eastern Connecticut State University
>Willimantic, CT  06226
>
>Ph: 860-465-5260
>Email: booth at easternct.edu
>FAX:  860-465-5213
>
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Laurie L. Richardson
Professor and Chair, Dept. of Biological Sciences
Florida International University
Miami, FL   33199
phone:  305/348-1988
fax:    305/348-1986



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