HR: 1340h
AN: U43C-1387    [Abstracts]
TI: Carbon Sequestration Through Ocean Iron Fertilization: A Proposed Large-scale Demonstration
AU: * Leinen, M
EM: mleinen@climos.com
AF: Climos, Inc., 119 S. Columbus Street, Alexandria, VA 22314, United States
AU: Michaels, A F
EM: tony@usc.edu
AF: Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies University of Southern California, Alan Hancock Foundation 410, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0371, United States
AB: Studies of the controls on ocean phytoplankton productivity during the 1980's and 1990's revealed that many areas of the open ocean have sufficient macronutrient (nitrate, phosphate, silicate) concentrations to support abundant phytoplankton growth, but have low concentrations of these primary producers that are responsible for about 45% of CO2 removed from the atmosphere each year. Laboratory and open ocean experiments have subsequently demonstrated that iron is a micronutrient that limits growth in many regions. Fertilization of the ocean with iron has been proposed as a mechanism for sequestering additional CO2 since it was understood to limit growth. Recent observation and modeling answers some of the questions that have been posed about the impact of such fertilization. Other questions about the efficacy and impact of fertilization require observation of a larger-scale demonstration. A large (250 x 250 km) fertilization demonstration is planned for 2008 that will include an array of measurements of carbon flux (sediment traps, Th- 234, carbon system parameters), phytoplankton assemblage, macronutrients and Fe, and greenhouse gases. Although privately funded, all data will be available to the scientific community following the cruise.
DE: 0414 Biogeochemical cycles, processes, and modeling (0412, 0793, 1615, 4805, 4912)
DE: 0428 Carbon cycling (4806)
SC: Union [U]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting