Dumping iron at sea can bury carbon for centuries, study shows (yes, this again)

EurActiv ^ | 19 July 2012 | Damian Carrington for The Guardian, part of the Guardian Environment Network

[Olog-hai]

Dumping iron into the sea can bury carbon dioxide for centuries, potentially helping reduce the impact of climate change, according to a major new study. The work shows for the first time that much of the algae that blooms when iron filings are added dies and falls into the deep ocean.

Geoengineering—technologies aimed at alleviating global warming—are controversial, with critics warning of unintended environmental side effects or encouraging complacency in global deals to cut carbon emissions. But Professor Victor Smetacek, at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Germany, who led the new research, said: "The time has come to differentiate: some geoengineering techniques are more dangerous than others. Doing nothing is probably the worst option." …

A 2009 report from the Royal Society, the UK's science academy, concluded that while cutting emissions is the first priority, careful research into geoengineering was required in case drastic measures—such as trying to block sunlight by pumping sulfate into the atmosphere—were one day needed. …

[Olog-hai]

The US blasted that sick plan five years ago and rightly so. No wonder Revelation 11:18 talks about destroying those that destroy the earth—it isn’t our industry, but sick pseudoscientists like these people who want to poison our oceans over a lie.

[RC one]

blocking sunlight? reducing CO2? Did these “scientists” skip botany?

[1010RD]

I am always amazed at the persistence of bad ideas. I think it is the entire purpose of government schooling.

[Puckster]

There is simply no reason for this.

[muir_redwoods]

Oh hell, let’s do it anyway!!

[Chainmail]

I think this plan was tried in 1942-42 off Guadalcanal in the waters near Savo Island. Didn’t seem to work very well at the time, though the Japanese did leave the experiment early.

[Verginius Rufus]

The Phocaeans tried this about 546 B.C. They had decided to flee their homeland to escape Persian rule and settle in Corsica, but first they dropped a lump of iron into the sea and took an oath not to return until it floated. See Herodotus (Book I, chapter 165).