Plancton will not save the planet

2002/02/19 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Ingurumena

To reduce the excess carbon dioxide that affects the health of the planet, some scientists proposed adding iron to the sea. This would increase plankton and, since plankton uses marine carbon dioxide, it should be taken out of the air when the seafarer is exhausted. Once plankton died, his body's carbon would accumulate on the seabed.

Many opposed this theoretical solution in the conviction that it would unbalance the marine ecosystem. Now, thanks to a computer model made at Princeton, it has been seen that plankton does not have as much capacity as they thought.

The team led by Jorge Sarmiento in Princeton analyzes what would happen if for a month 160.000 square kilometers of sea were fed with iron. According to the result obtained, only 2-11% of the carbon dioxide captured by plankton 100 years later would be taken from the atmosphere. In other words, approximately 1 billion tons of carbon would occupy the atmosphere, that is, 0.2% of the carbon that humans generate in the month.

That is, marine plankton will not solve the problem of Earth warming, even if we drown it with iron.