The Southern Ocean may be Earth’s safest place to remove carbon from the atmosphere, scientists find

Left/Southern Ocean/Right/Southern Ocean on map/Image: AI Generated As the world searches for ways to remove carbon dioxide already accumulating in the atmosphere, ocean iron fertilisation (OIF) has emerged as one of the most debated climate intervention strategies. The idea is deceptively simple: adding tiny amounts of iron to iron-poor parts of the ocean stimulates the growth of phytoplankton, microscopic marine organisms that absorb carbon dioxide during photosynthesis. If some of this organic carbon sinks into the deep ocean, it can remain stored for years or even decades. However, scientists have long questioned whether the climate benefits outweigh the ecological risks. A new Nature study finds that the answer depends largely on where fertilisation takes place. While some ocean regions could remove carbon efficiently with relatively limited ecological disruption, others may experience significant and long-lasting impacts on marine ecosystems.Scientists compared climate benefits and ecological risks across the world's major ocean regionsThe findings come from the Nature study ‘Climate Benefit and Ecological Cost Trade-offs for Ocean Iron Fertilisation’ by Jun Yu, J. Keith Moor...