Iron is a tonic for climate-saving plankton (Iron filings ship is sailing.) - Reuters

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Iron is a tonic for climate-saving plankton
Sun Nov 18, 2007 8:24pm EST

By Jim Loney and Michael Christie

MIAMI (Reuters) - From the deck of the research ship
Weatherbird II, a California company hopes to prove a
controversial theory that putting iron dust in the ocean
can produce enough plankton to help save the Earth.

The mission of the company behind the ship, Planktos
Corp., is to research whether "iron seeding," or "iron
enrichment" -- dumping tons of pulverized iron ore into
the ocean -- can catalyze the growth of microscopic
algae that will then suck carbon out of the atmosphere.

If the research goes well, Planktos aims to make money by
fertilizing the ocean, measuring the carbon its plankton
forests sequester and selling carbon credits for cash on
emerging world carbon markets.

-snip-

Oceanographers critical of Planktos say scientists have
simply not yet done the work needed to prove that
phytoplankton blooms can sequester carbon safely and
for the long term.

-snip-

"Many scientists think we should try to establish the
facts and the downstream consequences of iron
enrichment and there are a few non-scientists who think
if it can make money we should do it now," said Kenneth
Coale, a researcher at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories
in California who has conducted leading work on the
subject.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSN1655198020071119

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Earlier thread: Galapagos experiment sparks alarm

[Ganja Ninja]

1. At this point its worth a shot.

We're running out of time and it sure as hell doesn't look like anybody else is doing anything to stop global warming.

[Nihil]

3. Strongly disagree that "its worth a shot" ...

> We're running out of time and it sure as hell doesn't look like anybody
> else is doing anything to stop global warming.

So do something to cut DOWN the amount of shit being put into the atmosphere
and the ocean ... all this is doing is increasing Man's damage to the planet
in the vague hope that it *might* do more good than harm.

This plan involves generating pollution in creating the iron ore dust,
generating pollution in transporting the iron ore dust into the target area
at sea and dumping an unprecedented amount of iron into that small area
in the HOPE that it will boost productivity for a short time without causing
short-term or long-term side-effects.

They would do more good by cancelling the project before leaving port as
at least that would save a certain amount of air pollution, a known addition
to the atmospheric CO2 and a guaranteed iron pollution of the sea.

Still, I'm sure that *someone* managed to get an extra slice of pie for this
little exercise in distraction.
:banghead:

[tom_paine]

4. Exactly. For we primates, throwing poop at a problem is the only way we know

We are monkeys. Monkeys are poop-throwers. The only real difference, when you strip away the bullshit, is that now we throw jellied gasoline poop, depleted urainum poop, and white phosphorous poop at each other.

Progress.

Now, with the poop, literally, about to hit the fan, our solution is to dump some more poop in the oceans.

A whole lot of iron poop, tgo go with the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and all our other ocean-going poop.

And yes, it is a near-100% certainty that in a system as complex as our oceans, there will be one if not dozens of unintended side-effects in what is essentially our first experiment in large-scale terraforming (if you don't count our UNINTENTIONAL efforts for the last century)

You say :banghead:

I say :rofl: . It's what Kurt Vonnegut would say, and in this case it's monkey see, monkey do. :evilgrin:

[jpak]

2. No it's not

Oceanographers have conducted 11 mesoscale ocean iron enrichment experiments over the last decade.

http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=14618

All produced surface blooms of phytoplankton.

But only 3 of those experiments resulted in the enhanced flux of iron-stimulated organic carbon from surface waters.

and less than 7% of that production was exported deeper than 125 meters

Furthermore, there is some evidence that iron stimulation resulted in the production of nitrous oxide (a powerful greenhouse gas) in near surface waters

Bottom line - it don't work- and may have serious unintended consequences...