'Climate fix' ship sets sail with plan to dump iron

'Climate fix' ship sets sail with plan to dump iron

The largest and to date the most comprehensive experiment to soak up greenhouse-gas emissions by artificially fertilising the oceans set sail from South Africa earlier this week.

The ambitious geoengineering expedition has caused a stir among some campaigning groups, but has the scientific backing of the UK, German, and Indian governments, as well as the International Maritime Organisation.

Within weeks, the ship's crew hope to dump 20 tonnes of ferrous sulphate into the Southern Ocean. Plankton need iron to grow, and the aim of the expedition is to trigger a plankton bloom and boost the amount of carbon that is sucked out of the air and locked up at the bottom of the ocean.

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[edit on 9/1/2009 by Mirthful Me]

an algae bloom?? oh noes, unintended consequences, here we come

better than acid in the atmosphere by adding SO2 to jet fuel. some people...

And the oceans turn Blood Red. One of the 7 signs.

Could this cause a Red Tide.





eng.wikipedia.org...

[edit on 9-1-2009 by jibeho]

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[edit on 9/1/2009 by Mirthful Me]

reply to post by jibeho


I thought of the exact same thing; I remember watching a 'scientific' explanation of what could have turned the Nile River red. One of them was a red algae that bloomed; killing off the fish, therefore becoming the catalyst for the remaining 9.

It would be interesting to say the least if this is how it starts.

By the title of the thread i first thought they were going to dump a whole lot of iron in one spot to manipulate the axis of the earth Maybe I have been on ATS to long.

How about they just plant two trees for every tree they cut down in the rainforest.

[edit on 9-1-2009 by Ant4AU]

Will Cloverfield finally come to life in the real world?

Oh I can only hope

I have been praying we somehow spawn a Giant Monster for quite sometime

I would accept as a result a giant Algae thing that eats whole cities... this would do imho

Related thread "07:Oceans are Contributing to Global Warming

This New Scientist article gives a little more current info on ocean CO2 , the use of ferric sulfate to nutralize the CO2 and the positive effect on phytoplancton and the ocean food chain. No doubt the use of iron will be controversial as it was at Galapagos but it seems like a good technique to test and study.

I have a funny feeling about this experiment. These things can often go awry in so many ways. We are trying to manipulate Mother Nature and this new venture is giving me a bad vibe. I am in no way a doomsday fanatic but Yikes.

If this causes a red tide, the results can be devastating.

www.fathom.com...

[edit on 9-1-2009 by jibeho]

Haven't we learned yet that playing God is hazardous to us and the planet? The earth will heal itself if we leave it alone and stop scraping at the wounds.

Haven't we learned yet that playing God is hazardous to us and the planet?

reply to post by NightSkyeB4Dawn


"Playing HUMAN" can be hazardous as well. The effects of the presence of mankind are more or less unavoidable but our responsibility is to mitigate the effects where possible. This is one of the effects we may be able to mitigate.

I'm sure large amounts of FeSO4 will not be dumped into the oceans unless the effects are significant and benificial. I'm sure it will be an expensive process.

Danger Will Robinson!

My spidy-sense doesn’t like this one bit. Frankly, I’m surprised the public is being told about it.

If you have a plankton bloom without fish to eat the plankton you will have a real risk of creating another dead-zone in the ocean.

Instead of being eaten the plankton will die and drop to the bottom and rot.
this causes a loss of O2 in the area and kills even more fish.
It also causes the production of methane from the rotting plankton and this is a worse greenhouse gas.

The best way to do this iron addition is to ban all fishing and allow the fish to repopulate the area first before dumping the iron.

The ocean dead zones we have now are from overfishing and they need to be fixed by banning fishing in those areas.
www.redorbit.com...
discovermagazine.com...
features.csmonitor.com...

[edit on 9-1-2009 by ANNED]

Look we all know who is behind this





Frankly i'm surprised this has not gotten more attention... Since we haven't found bin laden, I say Plankton is a natural pick for the next evil terrorist the Govt is after...

He makes video announcement regularly and finding him under the sea would be even tougher than the Mts of Afghanastan

"US Invades Bikini Bottom"

I like it

reply to post by mopusvindictus


Yes, you'd just love to invade bikini bottom wouldn't you, you foul depraved perv!

reply to post by plumranch


They said that when they brought the Milfoil to Minnesota, and the Australian Pine to Florida and when they dumped the Melalueca into the Everglades and countless other times when they did nothing but make a big mess then forced the citizens of those states to pay to clean it up. We are still paying, and they still can't eradicate this toxic vegetation that did well in their native environment but is wrecking hell on our indigenous plants and killing our environment. Man just is not as smart as if think he is and the slow destruction of our planet is proof of that but we will not learn.

They said that when they brought the Milfoil to Minnesota, and the Australian Pine to Florida and when they dumped the Melalueca into the Everglades and countless other times when they did nothing but make a big mess then forced the citizens of those states to pay to clean it up. We are still paying, and they still can't eradicate this toxic vegetation that did well in their native environment but is wrecking hell on our indigenous plants and killing our environment.

reply to post by NightSkyeB4Dawn


That was good! And whoever brought Spotted Napweed to the Northwest should also be tarred and feathered!

Back to FeSO4, iron reduced by sulfuric acid. It isn't going to replicate, just react with the CO2 and provide phytoplankton nutrients. Less CO2 is good. Nutrients are good in an otherwise infertile ocean. When I go to McDonalds I order fish burgers. I hear that the fish burger polock fish are in trouble. Maybe, just maybe, the iron sulfate will help. Maybe not.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

Ah, as global temperatures continue to level out or drop in direct contradiction of even the most conservative global warming predictions. And as we enjoy the last, warm moments of this temporary reprieve before the next inevitable ice age, the relentless fanatics from the new religion, not content with their plans for the destruction of the world economy, demand yet another sacrifice to appease their false yet vengeful god. Yes, now even the Earth itself must have her oceans poisoned and literally choked to the "gills" with algae and plankton to save us from that always invisible, elusive, unprovable, yet ever-present Great Satan: Anthropogenic Global Warming.

They absolutely will not stop until they destroy the world in order to save the world.

But wait, what's this...?

Original article www.newscientist.com
Ocean fertilisation experiments have been carried out on a few occasions in the past, but became controversial in 2007 when a company called Planktos announced it would dump iron fillings off the coast of the Galapagos islands.

Planktos was a commercial organisation. It intended to sell carbon credits to companies that would pay the company to dump iron in the oceans, which would in theory suck CO2 out of the atmosphere and counter their own polluting activities.

History has shown that the largest monetary windfalls are to be made from capitalising on human fear. People will pay any amount of $ for any horsepucky as long as they are scared enough. Just ask Al Gore









[edit on 2009-1-10 by wecomeinpeace]

reply to post by wecomeinpeace


I agree. I think it is time for the people of the world to stop being so gullible. We need to see the wool is being pulled over our eyes. If something sounds too ridiculous to be true then look at it twice, check out who is pocketing the money and who is pulling the strings behind the curtain. Where is the world does it stop? We cut down the trees and destroy the air, we pollute the waters and throw the ecological system off balance then we throw some other hocus pocus magical solution at the mess we made because we didn’t “know” what we were doing but it made good scientific sense at the time. We “won’t” stop until we have nothing left to destroy or it is too late to repair. Where is voice of reason for this planet and where are the caregivers screaming enough is enough? We have to stop. We are not the only living things on this planet and our job was to maintain, not destroy. I know that this doesn’t make sense to a lot of people out there and a lot more are not going to want to go backwards but sometimes it takes going back a long ways to get back on the right track.

reply to post by wecomeinpeace



I think you're saying why should we be worried about CO2 in the oceans when there is no longer concerns about Global Warming as global temperatures have turned downward and sea levels rise has reversed.

I agree with that. What interests me is the ocean nutrient aspect. We would essentially be taking advantage of the CO2 in the ocean to feed marine life. That is an interesting aspect and I think it should be explored.

I think the oceans are more resilient that the environmentalists believe and we, therefore have a lot of latitude for experimentation.

Originally posted by mopusvindictus
Will Cloverfield finally come to life in the real world?

Oh I can only hope

I have been praying we somehow spawn a Giant Monster for quite sometime

I would accept as a result a giant Algae thing that eats whole cities... this would do imho

I'm holding out for a giant Ape hanging off buildings in New York. We need more chemicals sprayed where they live. Maybe we could have both. They could have a cage match on On Demand TV.

Kudo's to the scientists who actually found funding and created their own jobs. This could keep them working for years and they don't have to do anything that might actually improve the world. They can just float around the worlds oceans dumping iron, sipping tea and working on their tans. How great is that?