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    Research Notes

    Ocean fertilization with iron: effects on climate and air quality

    Authors:

    Peter Liss ,

    School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, GB
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    Adele Chuck,

    School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, GB
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    Dorothee Bakker,

    School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, GB
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    Suzanne Turner

    School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, GB
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    Abstract

    It is well known that iron fertilization can increase primary production and hence CO2 drawdown over a significant fraction of the oceans. What is less well established is the extent to which this leads to long-term sequestration of carbon to the deep oceans, and to feedbacks to the atmosphere arising from increased biological activity. In this note results for changes in trace gas concentrations during an iron addition experiment in the Southern Ocean are presented. They demonstrate that a complex situation exists; some gases (DMS, CH3I, CHBr2Cl) show increases in concentration following fertilization with iron while others show no change (CH3ONO2, CH2ClI) or even a decrease (CHBr3). The concomitant effects on air—sea fluxes of these gases are potentially important for climate and atmospheric composition.

    How to Cite: Liss, P., Chuck, A., Bakker, D. and Turner, S., 2005. Ocean fertilization with iron: effects on climate and air quality. Tellus B: Chemical and Physical Meteorology, 57(3), pp.269–271. DOI: http://doi.org/10.3402/tellusb.v57i3.16785
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      Published on 01 Jan 2005
    Peer Reviewed
     CC BY 4.0
     Accepted on 18 Nov 2004            Submitted on 21 Sep 2004

    References

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    9. Turner , S. M. , Harvey , M. J. , Law , C. S. , Nightingale , P. D. and Liss , P. S . 2004 . Iron-induced changes in oceanic sulfur biogeochemistry . Geophys. Res. Lett . 31 , L14307 , https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GL020296 .  

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