Carbon Cycle: Stuffing carbon into the Ocean
October 21st, 2007 by Kishore
A very popular methodology for carbon reduction is forcing more into the ocean. Many scientists support the testing of algal bloom growth in the oceans. Other private companies are researching iron fertilization, a process used to promote plankton growth in the ocean. Yet other groups even look toward direct deep sea carbon injection, a process where CO2 is captured and then pushed (generally via big ass tube) into deep ocean or even ocean floor.
Rather than explore each individual idea in this post, I’ll address the overall movement.
According to estimates, the carbon load in the deep ocean is about 50 times of that in the atmosphere (38,100 vs 750 GigaTons of Carbon). The time it takes for changes in the atmosphere to equilibrate is estimated in the hundreds to thousands of year ranges. Many of the above methodologies use that estimation as a basis for the research.
The rub: ocean chemistry is widely misunderstood. Concerns range from development of toxic algal growths to harming deep sea marine level. In fact, many scientists including Dan Kammen (DtaS speaker on Biofuels) share that concern. Climos, a local San Francisco climate startup, has proposed a set of standards for private entities and researchers when it comes to any ocean fertilization project.
Over the next few days, I’ll be writing on the specifics of many of these issues.
Takeaway:
There is 38,100 gigatons of momentum for carbon sequestration in the ocean. There needs to be some significant oversight on any setup as mistakes could be costly. That being said, the numbers show promise here, with upwards of 50% of anthropogenic carbon being mitigated via these processes.
More Info:
Climos’ Standards
DOE Page explaining Carbon Sequestration
Carbon Cycle
James Lovelock on Science Friday
This entry was posted on Sunday, October 21st, 2007 at 9:56 pm and is filed under Climate Change. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.