German government halts ocean-seeding experiment
The German government has stopped an iron seeding experiment in the Southern Ocean. The German research vessel Polarstern was already on its way to fertilise a patch of Ocean with iron in an effort to create a carbon sink when it received notification of the decision.
The research team plans to monitor the impact of the phytoplankton bloom on the marine environment, and to study the fate of the biomass.
If it sinks to the ocean floor, the carbon it contains might be sequestered for centuries, which could help mitigate climate change.
Uncertainty about this process, however, and about the effects on marine ecosystems, has meant that large-scale ocean fertilisation is not currently thought to be scientifically justified.