I think this is hilarious.
To start with, these waters are almost sterile because of the lack of iron needed as a nutrient, so a little bit goes a long way.
However, the bit about carbon sequestration is utter hooey.
But something *is* being accomplished that will likely cause chaos, not with the environment, but with environmentalists.
That is, when you create a profusion of “low level life”, like plankton, the end results is progressive bulges of life up the food chain. In this case, first of the small creatures that eat plankton, then of the small creatures that eat the small creatures. Then larger creatures on up the totem pole.
The end result will likely be something of a population explosion among fish. And that throws the eco-nuts off schedule, because they want to end fishing.
“The end result will likely be something of a population explosion among fish.”
I wonder how long the 100 tons of iron sulfate will last? So yes, more fish for awhile. But the “right” fish? And in the meantime does the natural rhythm and locations, etc. of commercial fish get disrupted? (Like the normal salmon fisheries being near the coast - but now 200 miles out of reach by the fishermen?). I have no idea on fishing, biology, etc.
But hope these guys looked into stuff more than just “Hey - ya know all that iron sulfate waste we’ve been paying to get hauled away? Lets dump it in the ocean somewhere and watch plankton grow.”
OTOH- if it works well - great! As another poster said, I guess we’ll find out. And as long as the guys waits to see what happens without dumping more and more in, whatever bad (or good) effects the stuff has will no doubt be limited in time and extent.
Bravo!
Thank goodness someone began to experiment.
CO2 is GOING to go up. India, China, et al, could care less what the environazis want. They will use coal because it is cheaper.
I think AGW is a hoax at present. However, there could be effects when CO2 is much higher.
Locking carbon up in plankton and sea life is a great idea.
If we discover problems, we can just stop the fertilization. Nature has run this experiment in many areas where land minerals are washed into the ocean and set off rapid growth of plankton.