Article 5
Topic: Nutrient Fertilization Experiment (Iron)
Author: Henry Fountain
Date: October 18, 2012
This article talks about how the Iron Dumping by Mr. George affects the environment as a whole. Scientists are outraged by this action because they believe that this can lead to a major impact, like the result of too much phytoplankton growth in the ocean. Canada's environment ministry says that the experiment "was carried out with no government or scientific oversight". The controversy continues as they realize that the reason why they did this is to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the air by growing phytoplanktons in the ocean. They also reveal that iron fertilization is associated with geoengineering, a set of proposed strategies for counteracting global warming through the deliberate manipulation of the environment. However, Mr. George defends himself by stating that his experiment is not related to geoengineering, and 100 tons was negligible amount of iron compared to what naturally enters the ocean. He refused to name other scientists in his group to prevent further accusations. Scientists who have been involved with sanctioned iron fertilization experiments strongly disputed his assertion about the quality of his experiment, saying that it was roughly 10 times bigger than any other but that the fishing bot used and the science team were clearly insufficient.
I decided to pick this article because it relates to our recent experiment that we did: The Effects of Nutrient Fertilization on the Growth of Phytoplanktons. It pleases me to be knowledgeable about the effects of iron fertilization in the ocean before even reading this article. When excess nutrients enters the ocean, this affects the growth of phytoplankton, causing rapid growth. However, when they die, the decomposers in the ocean use a lot of available oxygen to decompose them, and this leads to oxygen depletion. Fishes and other aquatic animals will have insufficient amount of oxygen, leading to their deaths, which ultimately causes dead zone. This is the reason why scientists were outraged when they realized that Mr. George and his team dumped iron in the ocean without further permission from them.
Author: Henry Fountain
Date: October 18, 2012
This article talks about how the Iron Dumping by Mr. George affects the environment as a whole. Scientists are outraged by this action because they believe that this can lead to a major impact, like the result of too much phytoplankton growth in the ocean. Canada's environment ministry says that the experiment "was carried out with no government or scientific oversight". The controversy continues as they realize that the reason why they did this is to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the air by growing phytoplanktons in the ocean. They also reveal that iron fertilization is associated with geoengineering, a set of proposed strategies for counteracting global warming through the deliberate manipulation of the environment. However, Mr. George defends himself by stating that his experiment is not related to geoengineering, and 100 tons was negligible amount of iron compared to what naturally enters the ocean. He refused to name other scientists in his group to prevent further accusations. Scientists who have been involved with sanctioned iron fertilization experiments strongly disputed his assertion about the quality of his experiment, saying that it was roughly 10 times bigger than any other but that the fishing bot used and the science team were clearly insufficient.
I decided to pick this article because it relates to our recent experiment that we did: The Effects of Nutrient Fertilization on the Growth of Phytoplanktons. It pleases me to be knowledgeable about the effects of iron fertilization in the ocean before even reading this article. When excess nutrients enters the ocean, this affects the growth of phytoplankton, causing rapid growth. However, when they die, the decomposers in the ocean use a lot of available oxygen to decompose them, and this leads to oxygen depletion. Fishes and other aquatic animals will have insufficient amount of oxygen, leading to their deaths, which ultimately causes dead zone. This is the reason why scientists were outraged when they realized that Mr. George and his team dumped iron in the ocean without further permission from them.