This considered "safe"?: 100 tons of pulverized IRON spread on ocean?

Question

I'm just about reading an article in Miami Herald online, where it says a company is at center of controversy, as it wants to spread 100 tons of pulverized iron over a carbon dioxide- gobbling plankton near Galapagos Island in the Pacific Ocean. They say the experimental technique, which is called "iron-seeding" would be like a "tonic" for the enviromental epidemic of collapsing fisheries, ocean acidification, and global warming.

If it's succesful, the company will benefit by selling "carbon-offset" credit to industrial polluters.

How safe can this be? Up till now their voyage has been postponed repeatedly because of questions from scientists, enviromentalists, and government regulators. But they're expected to be off to sea any day now!!!

Answer 1

I am not terribly familiar with this idea, but it sounds like this iron seeding will be beneficial to the indigenous plankton. When the plankton grow, they would be able to pull more carbon from the atmosphere, which would make them grow even more and benefit the marine biosphere as a whole. The only environmental downside that I see is the possibility of iron pollution, but I know not of its consequences.

Good question, you should link to the article so others can read it.

Answer 2

On the surface this sounds like a great idea. Experiments have been done and it does indeed trap a great deal of carbon dioxide and send it to the bottom of the sea. The problem is than unless the stuff gets buried by lots of sediments, its not likely to STAY buried very long. There are a number of variables which I don't feel like looking up. It may sound like an ideal solution to global warming since iron is dirt cheap, but it may not be.

Answer 3

APPARENTLY THIS HYPOTHESIS IS NOT AS CRAZY AS IT MIGHT SEEM. EVIDENCE THAT PLANKTON OF THE VEGETABLE TYPE ARE LIMITED IN REPRODUCING BY NUTRIENTS AND IRON IS ONE OF THE MOST CRITICAL. AS THE PHYTOPLANKTON FLOURISH THEY REMOVE CO2 FROM THE UPPER OCEAN WATERS AND TAKE IT WITH THEM WHEN THEY DIE AND SINK TO THE OCEAN DEPTHS ALLOWING MORE CO2 TO BE ABSORBED BY THE ATMOSPHERE. AND MORE PLANKTON CARRY lAWAY MORE ETC, ETC..