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Too early to say if iron seeding will slow global warming - scientists mongabay.com January 10, 2008
Ken Buesseler and colleagues say that while several small-scale ocean iron fertilization studies reveal the role iron plays in ocean ecosystems, the research was not designed to measure the use of iron as a strategy for carbon offsets to fight climate change. The authors say more research is needed to understand the long-term impact of iron fertilization, including its effects ecosystems. "While we do envision the possibility of iron fertilization as an effective form of carbon offsetting, we believe larger scale experiments are needed to assess the efficiency of this method and to address possible side effects," said Andrew Watson of the University of East Anglia. "There remain many unknowns and potential negative impacts."
"This group feels it is premature to sell carbon offsets from the first generation of commercial-scale Ocean Iron Fertilization (OIF) experiments unless there is better demonstration that OIF effectively removes CO2, retains that carbon in the ocean for a quantifiable amount of time, and has acceptable and predictable environmental impacts," concludes the letter. Planktos, a U.S.-based firm, is using iron fertilization in an attempt to trigger a plankton bloom that will sequester carbon from the atmosphere. The company plans to sell carbon offsets based on the amount of carbon sequestered, but its plans have been widely condemned by environmental groups who say that scheme will do more harm than good and could put important ecosystems at risk. The U.S. government has also ruled that the experiment would violate ocean dumping laws. Buesseler, K.O. et al. (2008) "Ocean Iron Fertilization—Moving Forward in a Sea of Uncertainty," Science 11 January 2008
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