Snags in sea carbon plan

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Scientists probing the possibility of storing carbon emissions under the ocean floor admit it is no silver bullet solution to climate change.

For years, experts have studied the movement of carbon dioxide between oceans and the atmosphere, researching ways of boosting the ability of microscopic marine plants to absorb more CO2.

One proposal is to fertilise huge tracts of ocean with nutrients, including iron, to increase the growth of carbon-hungry phytoplankton, a possibility tempered by concerns that changing the ocean ecosystems could damage them.

Tom Trull, of the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Co-operative Research Centre, said ocean fertilisation was “unlikely to become a silver bullet”, but added it could be a part of the overall solution.

“But we need to work on the other issues anyway,” Associate Professor Trull said. “I’d rather see us work on conservation, followed by alternative [power] generations, followed by closed loop engineering solutions where we don’t release the CO2.”

He warned, however, that more research was needed urgently before it was too late to take decisive action on climate change.

“It’s quite possible that 20 years from now, when we haven’t dealt with lowering emissions, the climate is warming significantly, people are going to say ‘do something, do anything’,” he said.

“People will be dying in major cities that are overheating - that’s why we need the research done to understand if we have to do something that can remove CO2 that we’ve already released … this is one of the things we can do.

“For those reasons, it’s well worth trying to do more research to understand the technology so we can have a Band-Aid if we get to where we need it, but the emphasis right now should be on getting to where we don’t need a Band-Aid, by acting earlier rather than later.”

Scientists also say Australia is well placed to lead the research into ocean fertilisation, not least because of its proximity to the Southern Ocean, which lacks sufficient iron.

- AAP