Isra-Mart srl:Researchers swim in unison on ocean iron fertilisation

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Isra-Mart srl news:

A selection of academic institutions have come together to form a research group to explore the possibility of seeding the oceans with iron filings as part of an attempt to boost the ocean's ability to soak carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.

The In-Situ Iron Studies (ISIS) consortium will study the effect on ocean systems of putting iron filings in the water. The process, known as iron fertilisation, attracts plankton and encourages its growth. The plankton then use CO2 on the surface of the ocean for photosynthesis. They produce organic carbon, which is then taken to the bottom of the ocean with them when they die.

Previous studies have been relatively limited in area, according to ISIS, which wants to expand direct research in the ocean, while also carrying out some numerical studies.

The consortium will doubtless face stiff competition from the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which last May issued a set of suggested guidelines. These guidelines reinforced a previous decision that it had made on ocean iron fertilisation in 2008.

The guidines outlined last year recommended to governments that "no climate related geo-engineering activities take place until there is an adequate scientific basis on which to justify such activities".

It also called for "appropriate consideration of the associated risks for the environment and biodiversity and associated social, economic and cultural impacts".

However, ISIS has said it aims to adhere to the guidelines "currently being developed" by the International Maritime Organization's London Convention. In 2007, the Convention called for fertilisation activities to be restricted to small-scale experiments.

Participating organisations in ISIS include the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre in Australia, the UK's National Oceanography Centre, and the Netherlands Institute for Sea Research. The Universities of Hawaii, Illinois, Main, Massachusetts, Plymouth, Rhode Island, and Xiamen, China are also included.