Source:
ReutersIron is a tonic for climate-saving planktonSun 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
Earlier thread:
Galapagos experiment sparks alarm