Scientists Pump 65,000 Litres of Chemicals into Ocean to “Stop Global Warming” in Geoengineering Project
Scientists have pumped 65,000 litres of chemicals into the ocean off America in a controversial geoengineering experiment designed to “stop global warming”.
The Mail has more.
Last August, 65,000 litres of bright red chemicals were pumped into the Gulf of Maine – yet this wasn’t an enormous industrial disaster.
Instead, it was a controversial geoengineering experiment that scientists claim could help to slow down global warming.
The oceans already hold around 38,000 billion tonnes of CO2, trapped as dissolved sodium bicarbonate, or baking soda.
The geoengineering method known as Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement (OAE) aims to speed up this natural process by resetting the ocean’s pH.
Over four days, scientists added vast quantities of sodium hydroxide – an alkaline chemical tagged with a red dye – to the waters off the coast of Boston.
Making the ocean more alkaline should encourage it to absorb even more CO2 from the atmosphere.
However, critics have warned that the potential effects on marine life remain uncertain.
Gareth Cunningham, Director of Conservation and Policy at the Marine Conservation Society, told the Daily Mail: “These approaches are resource-intensive and their ecological impacts are still poorly understood.”
For years, scientists have put forward OAE as one of the leading potential solutions to climate change.
In theory, the novel approach could solve two problems at once by locking away excess CO2 from the atmosphere and fixing the oceans’ rising acidity.
Without an ‘antacid’ like sodium hydroxide to react with, CO2 dissolving in the oceans forms a mild acid that has slowly but surely reduced the pH level.
This is already having catastrophic effects on sea life, as the acid dissolves marine creatures’ shells, damages coral, and even wears away sharks’ teeth.
The LOC-NESS (Locking Ocean Carbon in the Northeast Shelf and Slope) project is the first large-scale experiment to test the impact of OAE in an open water setting.
With approval from the US Environmental Protection Agency and engagement with local fishermen, scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution poured alkaline chemicals into the ocean 50 miles (80 km) off the Massachusetts coast.
They then used cutting-edge technology, including autonomous gliders, long-range autonomous underwater vehicles and shipboard sensors to track the spreading chemicals.
Over the next few days, the scientists measured 10 tonnes of carbon entering the water as the pH increased from 7.95 to 8.3 – matching pre-industrial levels.
In the best-case scenario, the researchers estimate that the sodium hydroxide would absorb about 50 tonnes of carbon over the next year, equivalent to the average yearly emissions of five UK citizens.
Worth reading in full.
Dave
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There is no global warming, and these so-called scientist needs to be jailed!
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very old white guy
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They are insane. 65k litres is as they say a drop in the bucket. I wonder if anyone has developed Ice 9 yet.
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DouweH
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Agree with you 100% Dave. The “science” is being overseen by demented individuals and it’s all about the money, not science.
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Michael J
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50 tonnes carbon or carbon dioxide??? Are these people scientists??
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Doogie Howser
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A emphatic and resounding NO . None of these jerkoffs are actually scientists .
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Bevan Dockery
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Temperature determines the solubility of CO2 in water whereby CO2 solubility decreases with increasing temperature. Consequently the warm sea surface temperatures in the Equatorial zone are the main source of atmospheric CO2 and the cold Polar regions are the sink for CO2.
The atmospheric CO2 concentration has increased since the Little Ice Age in the mid 1800’s because the sea surface temperatures in the Equatorial zone have increased as the intensity of the Sun’s radiation has increased causing effervescence of CO2 from the oceans. However this has had little effect on the Polar temperatures as the Sun’s radiation is either at or near horizontal at the Poles giving in little or no change in the CO2 sink. In the Equatorial zone the Sun’s radiation is at or near vertical to the surface resulting in maximum warming.
This continuing change in the temperature gradient between the Poles and the Equator is the cause of climate change NOT CO2. CO2 is a simple molecule and molecules, excluding radioactive elements, do not generate heat. They are matter. Heat is energy, an entirely different entity.
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