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Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 4, NUMBER 4, APRIL 1991

PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS...
OCEAN FERTILIZATION

Item #d91apr22

"Glacial-Interglacial CO₂ Change: The Iron Hypothesis," J.H. Martin (Moss Landing Marine Lab., POB 450, Moss Landing CA 95039), Paleoceanog., 5, 1-13, 1990. One of the recent papers to propose that iron fertilization of the Antarctic Ocean may effectively lower atmospheric CO₂ levels. (See News, this Global Climate Change Digest issue--Apr. 1991.)

Item #d91apr23

"Estimates of the Effect of Southern Ocean Iron Fertilization on Atmospheric CO₂ Concentrations," F. Joos (Phys. Inst., Univ. Bern, CH-3012 Bern, Switz.), J.L. Sarmiento, U. Siegenthaler, Nature, 349(6313), 772-775, Feb. 28, 1991.

The maximum CO₂ reduction calculated by a box model, about 100 ppm, is unlikely to be achieved in practice because of various constraints. Concluded that the ecological effects need evaluation, and that the most effective and reliable strategy to reduce future increases in atmospheric CO₂ is control of anthropogenic emissions.

Item #d91apr24

"Ironing Out Greenhouse Effects," R.S. Keir (GEOMAR, Christian-Albrechts Univ., Wischhofstr. 1-3, 2300 Kiel 14, Ger.), Nature, p. 198, Jan 17, 1991. Discusses the implications of the following paper, concluding that neither iron fertilization nor any other method of CO₂ sequestration can be considered a serious alternative for reducing CO₂ levels.

"Dynamical Limitations on the Antarctic Iron Fertilization Strategy," T.-H. Peng (Environ. Sci. Div., Oak Ridge Nat. Lab., Oak Ridge TN 37831), W.S. Broecker, ibid., 227-229. Examined the dynamical effects of the proposal with a box model and concluded that after 100 years of totally successful fertilization, the atmospheric CO₂ content would be lowered by only 10 + or - 5%.

Item #d91apr25

"Iron Availability, Nitrate Uptake and Exportable New Production in the Subarctic Pacific," K. Banse (Sch. Oceanog., WB-10, Univ. Washington, Seattle WA 98195), J. Geophys. Res., 96(C1), 741-748, Jan. 15, 1991. Rates of nitrate uptake in bioassays from the Gulf of Alaska by Martin et al. are reinterpreted. The export to depth of new organic material (and hence of CO₂) is not predictable from assays in small containers.