This idea has been around for a while, but I didn't realise there were field experiments going on. Basically, iron particles are dumped into the ocean which encourages a massive algal bloom. A proportion of the algae will sink to the bottom of the ocean, trapping the carbon. John Martin, an oceanographer, famously quipped: "Give me half a tanker of iron, and I’ll give you the next ice age.”
This is not a field experiment, it is more of a crack-pot scheme. There is very little science going on here. I suppose the most unfortunate part of this misguided adventure is that very little will really be learned from it since it was not designed as a proper experiment.
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This idea has been around for a while, but I didn't realise there were field experiments going on. Basically, iron particles are dumped into the ocean which encourages a massive algal bloom. A proportion of the algae will sink to the bottom of the ocean, trapping the carbon. John Martin, an oceanographer, famously quipped: "Give me half a tanker of iron, and I’ll give you the next ice age.”
There's a better article here: http://planetsave.com/2012/07/22/geoengineering-news-controv...
This is not a field experiment, it is more of a crack-pot scheme. There is very little science going on here. I suppose the most unfortunate part of this misguided adventure is that very little will really be learned from it since it was not designed as a proper experiment.
That experiment you reference was 7 tonnes. The article here is 100 tonnes. I wonder if that's enough to make an impact?