The Ocean Helps Clean Up CO2 From the Atmosphere

by Will DeFour, age 14

Nine hundred and fifty billion tons. That is the amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere right now. This number is only growing due to the burning of fossil fuels releasing greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide. Consequently, ice caps are melting, coastal cities are being flooded, and coral reefs that will not grow back for hundreds of years are being destroyed.

Carbon emissions threaten life on Earth, but just stopping the burning of them is not enough. To truly stop the Earth's warming, carbon must be removed from the atmosphere. The removal of carbon dioxide is not an easy endeavor as it requires space, money, and highly advanced technology. One potential location to capture and store carbon dioxide is in the ocean. Already absorbing a quarter of the carbon dioxide that people use, the ocean can essentially work as a carbon dioxide sponge, sequestering carbon for possibly thousands of years. There are many ways to remove carbon, all of which could positively impact the environment.

One of the ways that the ocean already captures carbon dioxide is by absorbing it through seaweed. Each year, the ocean absorbs 200 million tons of carbon dioxide through seaweed. By propagating large amounts of this plant, an additional billion tons could be captured. The subsequent seaweed could be used as a food source, allowing large amounts of land currently used for farming to turn back into ecosystems like forests, prairies, and swamps. This method is one of the cheapest and has uses beyond carbon absorption. However, it is not as effective. For more impactful options, other possibilities must be explored.

A second carbon absorption plan involves directly removing the carbon from the water. Though highly expensive, it would allow up to ten billion tons of carbon dioxide to be removed from the water annually. To do this, a large offshore facility would use electrical membranes to increase the carbon absorption of the water. These stations could be powered by renewable energy, further slowing the warming of the planet.

One last method involves increasing the ocean floor’s ability to hold carbon dioxide. By dumping hundreds of tons of minerals into the water, scientists can simulate rock weathering. This is also the most cost-effective and can remove over 15 billion tons of carbon dioxide each year. In comparison, humans produce 37 billion tons annually. However, nothing is ever that easy. The effects of these minerals on marine wildlife, such as whales, sharks, and seals, have not yet been researched. Further testing is required if these animals are to thrive with these minerals.
 The removal of carbon from the atmosphere is essential to the survival of the Earth, and the ocean may be the best opportunity for this task. Already, this climate superhero absorbs a quarter of human-produced carbon dioxide emissions. The ocean can be used to remove carbon from the heavily polluted atmosphere. These techniques have the potential to reverse the damage of climate change.

[Source: Science News]