Next steps for assessing ocean iron fertilization for marine carbon dioxide removal

[Geoengineering News]

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/climate/articles/10.3389/fclim.2024.1430957/abstract

Authors 

Ken Buesseler, Jay T. Cullen, Margaret Estapa, Nicholas Hawco, Seth John, Dennis McGillicuddy, Paul J. Morris, Sara Nawaz, Nishioka, Anh Pham, Kilaparti Ramakrishna, David Siegel, Sarah Smith, Deborah K. Steinberg, Kendra A. Turk-Kubo, Benjamin Twining, Romany Webb, Mark Wells, Angelicque White, Peng Xiu, Joo-Eun Yoon

25 July 2024

DOI: 10.3389/fclim.2024.1430957

There are many approaches to marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR), of which ocean iron fertilization (OIF) has the longest history of study. However, prior OIF studies were not designed to quantify the durability of carbon (C) storage, nor how wise OIF might be as an mCDR approach. To quantify C sequestration, we introduce a metric called the “centennial tonne”, defined as 1000 kg of C isolated from atmospheric contact for at least 100 years. We set forth the activities needed to assess OIF from a scientific and technological perspective, and additionally, how it might be responsibly studied and potentially deployed. The 5 activities include: field studies in the Northeast Pacific; improved modeling for field studies, data assimilation and predictions at larger scales; improvements in monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) for C, but also eMRV for tracking ecological and environmental impacts; and developing new iron sources and their delivery, to increase efficiencies and reduce costs. The fifth activity is to understand whether public and community support exists for OIF, and what governance structures might support further research and possible deployment of OIF. This article is written by a multidisciplinary experts group called Exploring Ocean Iron Solutions (ExOIS) that is organized around a responsible code of conduct. Of the mCDR approaches, OIF has the potential to be low cost, scalable, and rapidly deployable. There is an urgency to decide under what conditions OIF might be deployed or not. Now is the time for actionable studies to begin.

Source: Frontiers 

[Ken O Buesseler]

Glad to see how quickly our article is getting posted on this forum!  But think of this as a "sneak preview", as while the article is fully accepted it has not yet gotten through the proof stage.  The best parts are yet to come, and even within this abstract has an edit or two have been made.  We will alert this group to the final as it is released.  Also worth noting is that this article is just the first of what I expect will be sevearl insightful papers on mCDR under a Frontiers special issue https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/60314/environmental-engineering-perspectives-on-ocean-based-carbon-dioxide-removal/overview   Stay tuned for more.

[Bhaskar M V]

Thanks to all the authors of this paper.

The following points regarding Fertilization of Oceans should be considered.

1. The focus should NOT be solely on IRON Fertilization.

2. The focus should be on identifying the beneficial organisms that can be grown in Oceans and finding solutions to grow them,

What to grow and How to grow them.

3. Many mCDR solutions have to be studied along with Fertilization, due to the direct connection to each other.

- Fish Carbon, Blue Carbon, Coral Restoration, etc.

4. Nutrients from Wastewater and Fertilizer Runoff, released into Oceans via Ocean Outfalls and rivers should also be considered,

since this is linked to nutrient availability, algal blooms, hypoxia, etc.

Regards

Bhaskar

[PAUL MORRIS]

The ExOIS Program Office would like to announce that this week saw the publication of the full Perspective article in Frontiers in Climate, which presents the case for new research into OIF. The paper is the consensus of 23 experts from 17 institutions of what next steps are needed to transparently and ethically advance research and our understanding on the potential of OIF as a method of mCDR. An important component of what we propose is the prioritization and integration of social science and governance research alongside field trials.

For more information please read the press release, which then links to the article.

https://www.whoi.edu/press-room/news-release/exois-project/

Direct link to paper

To bring in an even greater range of voices, this news piece was published in Scientific American yesterday.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientists-will-engineer-the-ocean-to-absorb-more-carbon-dioxide/

Best regards,

ExOIS Program Office