How's that saying go ... "You can't stop Mother Nature" ...
Well, you can't stop dedicated Scientists, either (assuming they got their funding).
Scientists at the South Pole are announcing their recent finding that as Ice Bergs melt in the Ocean, huge Algae Blooms follow in their melt-water wakes ...
Melting Antarctic icebergs fight back against global warming
Toronto Star -- May 20 2011
[...]
Scientists have calculated that the melting icebergs deposit up to 120,000 tonnes of biological material into the Southern Ocean every year. That material, in turn, is believed to spur the growth of enough plankton to remove more than two billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from the air.
Smith said the phenomenon may have implications for global climate models.
This, I think, could be classified as one of those rare, Negative Feedback Loops.
Maybe we DO have some time to put the brakes on Climate Chaos, afterall ?
Of course it's doubtful, that the Polluting Nations of the World will take it. Usually they let such windows of opportunity, close unnoticed.
When there's a long "commercial break" in a Movie or Sporting event you are watching, what do you usually do?
Tidy up some, do some chores; Attend to other 'calls of nature' ?
Well, some Nations, just keep going back to the frig, for more beer and chips ...
Each Country's Share of CO2 Emissions
Union of Concerned Scientists
Country
Total Emissions (Million Metric Tons of CO2)
Per Capita Emissions (Tons/Capita)
1. China 6,534 4.91
2. U.S. 5,833 19.18
3. Russia 1,729 12.29
[...]
For more Graphs for the Top 20 Countries and their CO2 output.
Clearly those Melting Icebergs have their work cut out for them. Being able to remove about 2 Billion Tons of CO2 per year, means they only got Russia's "couch potato" debt covered.
Maybe it's time, that as Americans, we all switch back to the Science Channels? (and get out into the field, a bit more too.)
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI)
MBARI Video's Channel
Antarctic Icebergs and the Carbon Cycle
http://youtu.be/...
Here's the nitty gritty about those recent scientific discoveries made in the Earth's Cooler ...
Antarctic icebergs help the ocean take up carbon dioxide
MBARI News Release -- May 11, 2011
[...] The first comprehensive study of the biological effects of Antarctic icebergs shows that they fertilize the Southern Ocean, enhancing the growth of algae that take up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and then, through marine food chains, transfer carbon into the deep sea. This process is detailed in 19 new research papers published electronically in a special issue of the journal Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography.
The research team was led by MBARI marine biologist Ken Smith and funded by the National Science Foundation. Smith, along with researchers from more than a dozen other institutions, conducted three month-long cruises to the Weddell Sea in 2005, 2008, and 2009. By tracking individual icebergs and deploying remotely controlled aircraft and submersibles, as well as robotic drifters, the team was able to document a process that had previously been suspected, but never proven.
[...]
The new research suggests that these icebergs carry iron-rich sediment from the land out into the ocean. As these icebergs melt and drift across the ocean, some of the iron dissolves in the seawater, creating a trail of iron-rich meltwater that can be up to 19 kilometers (12 miles) long. The iron in this water helps fertilize the growth of microscopic algae.
[...]
MBARI engineers, led by Alana Sherman, developed a new robotic instrument that was programmed to sink 600 meters (about 2,000 feet) below the ocean surface while a large iceberg drifted overhead, then rise back to the sea surface after the iceberg had passed. This instrument, called a “Lagrangian sediment trap,” was used to collect particles of sediment, bits of dead algae, and other debris that drifted down from the waters under and around the iceberg. This device allowed scientists to measure, for the first time, the amount of organic carbon sinking into the deep sea beneath a large (6-kilometers wide, 35-kilometers long, and 28-meters tall), free-floating iceberg.
The researchers compared the amount of carbon sinking down to 600 meters beneath the iceberg with the amount of carbon sinking in the open ocean nearby. They found that about twice as much carbon sank into the deep sea within a 30-kilometer (18.6-mile) radius of the iceberg, compared with an open-ocean “control” area.
Algae, and their zoological cousins Plankton, are considered the 'Forests of the Sea' in terms of their Carbon Capture capabilities.
The green areas in this next clip, show the Plankton Blooms that routinely take in Carbon Dioxide, and put back Oxygen. The cycle that the Web of Life very much depends on.
Global Plankton Blooms
http://www.youtube.com/...
Algae and Plankton, should also be considered the 'The Bread Basket of the Sea' too, in terms of their Biomass raw Food-source capabilities.
NASA | Earth Science Week: The Ocean's Green Machines
http://www.youtube.com/...
PhytoPlankton provide the base of the Marine food web. [...]
The blooms of the PhytoPlankton also take CO2 out of the surface waters, making the ocean an important Carbon-sink.
Scientists have long theorized that Iron-particle fallout, from desert dust storms, and the like, provided the raw materials for vast Ocean Algae Blooms ...
Iron Hypothesis
Wikipedia
The Iron Hypothesis is elegant from a global engineering standpoint, because a small amount of hematites (micrometre-sized iron particles) could have a huge effect on the atmosphere. Tests in 2002 suggested that between 10,000 and 100,000 carbon atoms are sunk for each iron atom added to the water. With these figures in mind, one might believe it possible to sequester 1 billion tonnes of CO2 for as little as 30,000 tonnes of iron
Now with the work of some dedicated 'Arctic Watchers', those Scientists have virtually proved the connection. Geology does effect Biology. And on a very short time scale too.
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Icebergs -- is this good news?
forums.treehugger.com, greenteadrinker, Moderator -- Apr 12, 2008
[...] The researchers studied the effects by sampling the area around a large iceberg more than 32 kilometers (20 miles) long; the same area was surveyed again ten days later, after the iceberg had drifted away.
After ten days, the scientists observed increased concentrations of chlorophyll a and reduced concentrations of carbon dioxide, as compared to nearby areas without icebergs. These results are consistent with the growth of phytoplankton and the removal of carbon dioxide from the ocean.
[...]
In 2007, the same team published findings in the journal Science that icebergs serve as "hot-spots" for ocean life with thriving communities of seabirds above and a web of phytoplankton, krill and fish below.
At that time, the researchers reported that icebergs hold trapped terrestrial material, which they release far out at sea as they melt, a process that produces a "halo effect" with significantly increased nutrients and krill out to a radius of more than three kilometers (two miles).
Hmmm, can we import those Krill elsewhere? Do they have northern, and mid-latitude analogs? ... Inquiring minds, should want to know.
And about those Climate Models, that were referenced earlier:
Smith said the phenomenon may have implications for global climate models.
Looks like NASA Scientists may need to write a few more equations to account for those "Iceberg Halos". Knowing those rocket scientists, that shouldn't take them long. (... assuming they're not all laid off of course.)
NASA | Taking Earth's Temperature
NASAexplorer
http://www.youtube.com/...
James Hansen: We have a pretty good understanding now how sensitive the climate is to the increases in the greenhouse gases. This comes particularly from the history of the Earth.
Isn't Science something?
Isn't it great to see Computers used for more than, predicting the Vegas Odds, on the Superbowl?
All is not 'sugar and light', when it comes to People, trying to mimic what Nature does, naturally, however. You see, people have been creating Mini-algae Blooms for years now, with all our Nitrogen Fertilizer runoff from modern factory farming operations. These "Nitrogen blooms" are otherwise known as, Ocean "Dead Zones" ...
Frequently Asked Questions about No Sure Fix
Union of Concerned Scientists
[...] many scientists consider nitrogen pollution to be one of our biggest global environmental problems. Several chemical forms of nitrogen, collectively called reactive nitrogen, are responsible for causing environmental harm. Excess reactive nitrogen from farm fields, in the form of nitrate, finds its way into streams and rivers and ultimately ends up in major bodies of water such as the Gulf of Mexico. There, it nourishes vast blooms of algae that are consumed by bacteria, depleting the oxygen in the water and causing “dead zones” in which valuable fish and shellfish populations cannot survive.
See what I meant, about "moving the krill" ... apparently they can handle the Algae 'Bumper Crops', much more 'productively' than their bacteria counterparts, in mid-latitude oceans. What's their secret?
Not that we could actually move the krill. But helping shrimp and fish larvae along, sans BP, might do the trick? ... Inquiring minds, should want to know, this too.
Why do Algae Blooms create Life Halos in one neighborhood, and Death Halos in another?
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I've written before, on the topic of using Human-seeded Algae Blooms, as a "last ditch effort" to sink the Carbon-debts of China and the U.S. into the deep-green sea. Usually the topic has sunk like a stone, into that same NIMBY sea.
However there are scientists out there, who grasp the full gravity of the Climate Crisis we all face, scientists who grudgingly agree, it may actually come to that ...
How desperate are climate scientists?
Desperate enough to contemplate geo-engineering
Joseph Romm - The Grist -- 21 Dec 2008
In the Q & A session after Jim Hansen's talk about the dire state of the earth at the AGU meeting, eminent Rutgers University professor Paul Falkowski asked Hansen: "The genie is out of the bottle now -- What do you think of geoengineering as a way to deal with global warming?"
I half-expected Hansen to throw his laser-pointer at Falkowski. After all, geoengineering -- deliberate, large-scale manipulation of the earth's climate -- has long been a taboo subject in the climate debate. Only crackpots brought it up.
But Hansen didn't miss a beat. He said it would make sense to try "soft" geoengineering first, such as no-till agriculture and afforestation. But as a last resort, Hansen admitted, more aggressive geoengineering schemes might be necessary. Call it prudence. Or desperation.
If it is does come to that -- to the days of "last ditch measures" ... if we find there is no "divine rescue" that we can 'promise' to future generations, I hope we would listen to the best Scientific minds, and we would use the best Scientific research available,
as we will one day, be forced to 'forge ahead', and try and create, finally, that "Better World".
A World, that we used to agree, was 'our common goal' -- "a World Better than the one Our Parents, left to us."
May we somehow find the wisdom, to strive for those Common Goals of Humanity, once again. Not only the goals of the wealthy-elites among us.
May that time happen soon. Cuz you know, the 'Commercial Break' is almost over.
and the show must go on. Good Stewardship is a price, we must all pay.
Commercial sponsors willing, of course.
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A Key Strand in the Web of Life: PhytoPlankton
by jamess -- Sat Jun 26, 2010
Bio-Whats-zit?
by jamess -- Jun 12, 2010
The Six Degrees of Species Extinction
by jamess -- Apr 22, 2010