Poster's note : phosphorus ocean fertilization potentially competes with food uses
http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aa5ef5 Environmental Research Letters <http://iopscience.iop.org/journal/1748-9326> LETTER • OPEN ACCESS Global negative emissions capacity of ocean macronutrient fertilization Daniel P Harrison1,2 Published 23 February 2017 • © 2017 IOP Publishing Ltd Environmental Research Letters <http://iopscience.iop.org/journal/1748-9326> , Volume 12 <http://iopscience.iop.org/volume/1748-9326/12>,Number 3 <http://iopscience.iop.org/issue/1748-9326/12/3> Focus on Negative Emissions Scenarios and Technologies <http://iopscience.iop.org/journal/1748-9326/page/Negative%20Emissions%20Scenarios%20and%20Technologies> Article PDF <http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aa5ef5/pdf> - 198 Total downloads - [image: Article has an altmetric score of 4] <https://www.altmetric.com/details.php?domain=iopscience.iop.org&citation_id=16690866> - Turn on MathJax <http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aa5ef5#> - Share this article <?subject=Global%20negative%20emissions%20capacity%20of%20ocean%20macronutrient%20fertilization&body=Global%20negative%20emissions%20capacity%20of%20ocean%20macronutrient%20fertilization%20-%20https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa5ef5> <http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa5ef5> <http://twitter.com/share?url=https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa5ef5&text=Global%20negative%20emissions%20capacity%20of%20ocean%20macronutrient%20fertilization&via=IOPscience> <https://plus.google.com/share?url=https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa5ef5> <http://www.citeulike.org/posturl?url=https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa5ef5> <http://www.mendeley.com/import/?doi=10.1088/1748-9326/aa5ef5> Article information <http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aa5ef5#> Abstract In order to meet the goal of limiting global average temperature increase to less than 2 °C, it is increasingly apparent that negative emissions technologies of up to 10 Pg C yr−1will be needed before the end of the century. Recent research indicates that fertilization of the ocean with the macronutrients nitrogen and phosphorus where they limit primary production, may have sequestration advantages over fertilizing iron limited regions. Utilizing global datasets of oceanographic field measurements, and output from a high resolution global circulation model, the current study provides the first comprehensive assessment of the global potential for carbon sequestration from ocean macronutrient fertilization (OMF). Sufficient excess phosphate exists outside the iron limited surface ocean to support once-off sequestration of up to 3.6 Pg C by fertilization with nitrogen. Ongoing maximum capacity of nitrogen only fertilization is estimated at 0.7 ± 0.4 Pg C yr−1. Sequestration capacity is expected to decrease from the upper toward the lower bound over time under continued intense fertilization. If N and P were used in combination the capacity is ultimately limited by societies willingness to utilize phosphate resources. Doubling current phosphate production would allow an additional 0.9 Pg C yr −1 and consume 0.07% yr−1 of known global resources. Therefore offsetting up to around 15% (1.5 Pg C yr−1) of annual global CO2 emissions is assessed as being technically plausible. Environmental risks which to date have received little quantitative evaluation, could also limit the scale of implementation. These results reinforce the need to consider a multi-faceted approach to greenhouse gasses, including a reduction in emissions coupled with further research into negative emissions technologies -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
