Most of the posts about the recent experiment by Haida Nation have been reactive, commenting on what was done by the HSRC. I would like to present here the scientific basis for Ocean Fertilization.
All phytoplankton together account for less than 0.5 % of all biomass of the world. *http://wind-sea-algae.org/?page_id=305<http://www.linkedin.com/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwind-sea-algae%2Eorg%2F%3Fpage_id%3D305&urlhash=Byaf> * * * All Phytoplankton together account for about 46% of all photosynthesis.* * http://tolweb.org/Diatoms/21810 "Global Significance It has been known for a long time that diatoms are abundant in aquatic habitats, forming an essential part of many food chains. However, it was not until the 1990s that their huge contribution to the global carbon economy began to be fully appreciated. A back-of-the-envelope calculation (Mann 1999) goes like this: - total net primary production for the globe is ~ 105 Pg carbon per year (Field et al. 1998) - of this, about 46% occurs in the oceans and 54% on land (Field et al. 1998) - of the oceanic component, about one-quarter (11 Pg) takes place in oligotrophic (nutrient-poor) regions, one-quarter (9.1 Pg) in eutrophic (nutrient-rich) regions, and half (27.4 Pg) in the remaining mesotrophic regions (Field et al. 1998) - diatoms account for no more than 25-30% of primary production in nutrient-poor waters, but perhaps 75% in nutrient-rich regions (Nelson et al. 1995); so, assume an intermediate value of 50% for mesotrophic waters - the total contribution made by diatoms is then {(11 × 0.25) + (27.4 × 0.5) + (9.1 × 0.75)} = 23.275 Pg carbon per year, which is ~ 23.5% of the global total It's probably an overestimate, but the importance of diatoms is evident nonetheless. For comparison, all the world's tropical rainforests fix 17.8 Pg, all the savannas 16.8 Pg, and all the world's cultivated area another 8 Pg. The fate of the carbon that diatoms fix is now a crucial issue in climate-change research. Another way to appreciate diatoms is to realize that they give us every fifth breath, by the oxygen they liberate during photosynthesis." The reason why the stock of phytoplankton is low is that they are rapidly consumed by Zooplankton and Fish. *Calcium Carbonate in Fish bones * "There are today about 812 to 2050 Million tons of Fish left in the Oceans compared to 7,000 to 15,000 million tons estimated only two century ago." "The remaining Fish stock produces 110 million Ton of Calcium carbonate Annually. Would we repopulate the Ocean with Fish to levels as two centuries ago. We would then increase the production of Calcium Carbonates by a factor of 10 to 14. Giving us an additional 1000 to 1400 million Ton of Calcium Carbonates. This additional Calcium Carbonate would raise the PH level of the Ocean, save the Coral Reefs and increase the CO2 absorption rate as well as help cool down the over all Oceanic Temperature and increase as well as accelerate the filtration of toxins and other polluted." http://www.nowpublic.com/environment/eating-fish-kills-saving-our-oceans<http://www.nowpublic.com/environment/eating-fish-kills-saving-our-oceans#ixzz2AYkeeKeu> *Gut balls produced by Fish * “Almost twenty years ago, researchers at the University of Miami discovered that a species of toadfish carries tiny balls of calcite (CaCO3) in its gut. The authors suggested that this was likely a result of a filtration system in the fish’s stomach: water breathed in and out by the fish would need to be cleaned of various salts, including calcium and magnesium, to maintain proper salinity. These salts combine with carbon in seawater to form carbonates, which precipitate and collect in the fish’s gut. It turns out that toadfish aren’t unique. All bony fishes have this feature. A new study calculates that these tiny calcite stones could be a missing sink that accounts for 3-15% of the oceanic carbon absorption. That’s a big hole to plug, and the study’s figures are conservative. The actual number could be significantly higher. This provides another reason to be concerned with declining fish stocks worldwide.” *http://www.terrapass.com/blog/posts/fish-guts-carbon-sink<http://www.linkedin.com/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eterrapass%2Ecom%2Fblog%2Fposts%2Ffish-guts-carbon-sink&urlhash=UVGp> ** * Thus fish too contribute to carbon sequestration not just Diatoms that fall to the ocean bed. Total stock of oxygen in the atmosphere is about 1.1 million billion tons, all of this is due to photosynthesis. Since 46% of photosynthesis / primary production is by phytoplankton their share of the oxygen is about 506,000 billion tons. Thus, Carbon absorbed and sequestered due to the photosynthesis by phytoplankton is 189,750 billion tons. This is the stock of Carbon, unfortunately the data of the annual sequestration of carbon due to natural processes is not available. Since anthropogenic carbon emissions are about 10 billion tons per year, enhancing photosynthesis in oceans ought to be able to sequester most of the carbon emissions. In fact if people just eat more fish and less meat and grain, it will result in a massive reduction in carbon emissions. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/geoengineering/-/g2_6nfeprSoJ. To post to this group, send email to geoengineering@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to geoengineering+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en.
