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Some scientists have suggested OIF could draw down excess carbon from the atmosphere and store it in the oceans

Ocean iron fertilization has been proposed as a potential solution to address the problem of rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. The premise is that by adding iron, a limiting nutrient, to iron-deficient regions of the ocean, it would stimulate the growth of phytoplankton12. This would potentially in turn lead to increased carbon dioxide uptake by the phytoplankton and subsequent sequestration of the carbon in the deep ocean as the plankton sink34.

Many scientists who initially proposed OIF as a means of sequestering excess carbon dioxide have since expressed concerns about potential unintended consequences that could arise from such an ecological manipulation31 or doubts over its long-term efficacy4.

Others continue to call for further research and experimentation to better understand the complex biogeochemical processes involved and determine whether OIF could be a viable carbon removal strategy24.

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Footnotes​

  1. Harris, G. P. (1986). Phytoplankton ecology. Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4081-9 ↩ ↩2

  2. Preston, J. T., Bushnell, D., & Michaels, A. (2023). Iron Dust Could Reverse the Course of Climate Change. International New York Times, NA-NA. ↩ ↩2

  3. Trick, C. G., Bill, B. D., Cochlan, W. P., Wells, M. L., Trainer, V. L., & Pickell, L. D. (2010). Iron enrichment stimulates toxic diatom production in high-nitrate, low-chlorophyll areas. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(13), 5887-5892. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0910579107 ↩ ↩2

  4. Smetacek, V., & Naqvi, S. W. A. (2008). The next generation of iron fertilization experiments in the Southern Ocean. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 366(1882), 3947-3967. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2008.0144 ↩ ↩2 ↩3