Are Icebergs Saving The World

Administrator — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 02:42:41 +0000

Icebergs, until now a powerful symbol of the damage caused by global warming, seem to have decided to save the world from this threat instead. A team of UK scientists aboard the Royal Navy’s HMS Endurance (RN Antarctic Ice Patrol Ship and class 1A1 ice breaker, see left), have found that melting icebergs off the coast of Antarctica are releasing millions of tiny particles of iron into the southern Ocean, causing the formation of huge algal blooms able to absorb carbon emissions. The algae then sink to the bottom, removing the absorbed CO2 from the atmosphere for hundreds of years. Prof. Rob Raiswell of Leeds University in the UK and the lead researcher of the group stated that, “The Earth itself seems to want to save us.”

Ground breaking Experiment
Scientists have known for some time that artificially created algal blooms could be used to absorb greenhouse gases, but the technique has been banned for fear of causing unforeseen side effects in fragile ecosystems. However, based on the UK team’s evidence that the process has been occurring naturally for millions of years, and on a wide scale, the UN has given the green light for a ground-breaking experiment later this month and the team will try and create a massive algal bloom by releasing several tons of iron sulphate into the sea off the coast of the South Georgia. (A UK possession).
If the experiment is successful, the technique could be used over large areas of the Southern Ocean. Scientists calculate that if the whole 20 million square miles was treated, it could remove up to three and a half Gigatons of C02, equivalent to one eighth of all global annual emissions from fossil fuels.
Could this prevent the global warming catastrophe? We’ll see, but hopes are high that indeed the threatened icebergs have given us the information needed to save ourselves from ourselves.

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Are Icebergs Saving The World