Which situation describes the best aquatic environment for carbon sequestration

Question

Which situation describes the best aquatic environment for carbon sequestration through iron fertilization?

a. A very efficient, complex food chain with many aquatic predators.

b. An area with naturally high iron concentrations and swift ocean currents at intermediate depth.

c. An area with high phytoplankton sedimentation rates.

d. All of the above.

Some potential strategies for increasing carbon sequestration in the deep ocean include:

a. The removal of salps from the phytoplankton food chain.

b. Adding additional amounts of sulfur hexafluoride (SF6).

c. Adding iron in smaller amounts and at more frequent intervals.

d. b and c above.

Explanation / Answer

We know that about 30% to 50% of carbon dioxide produced by burning of fossil fuels are absorbed by ocean and almost all of this is done by photo planktons which use this carbon dioxide for the process of photosynthesis to produce their food. One way to increase the concentration of Photo Planktons in oceans is to fed oceans with iron as it will stimulate phytoplankton production. This process is most efficient when the area where we’re sprinkling this iron dust have high rate of photo planktons sedimentation as it will assist to produce more photo planktons in the oceans and hence option c. is correct.

Photo planktons need food and sunlight to multiply in number and hence the removal of slaps from the photo planktons food chain will boost their growth and hence it is one of the step that can be used to speed up the carbon sequestration in deep ocean and hence a. is correct.

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