Globalizing results from ocean in situ iron fertilization studies

Olivier Aumont (1) , Laurent Bopp (2)

1 LOCEAN - Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques
2 LSCE - Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement [Gif-sur-Yvette]

[1] Despite the growing number of in situ iron fertilization experiments, the efficiency of such fertilization to sequester atmospheric CO₂ remains largely unknown. For the first time, a global ocean biogeochemical model has been evaluated against those experiments and then used to estimate the effect of a long-term and large-scale iron addition on atmospheric CO₂. The model reproduces the observed timing and amplitude in chlorophyll, the shift in ecosystem composition, and the pCO₂ drawdown; it also proves to be of utility in interpreting the observations. However, a full ocean fertilization during 100 years results in a 33 μatm decrease in atmospheric CO₂ , that is 2 to 3 times smaller than found previously.

Domaines: Géophysique [physics.geo-ph]; Géophysique [physics.geo-ph]

Olivier Aumont, Laurent Bopp. Globalizing results from ocean in situ iron fertilization studies. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 2006, 20 (2), pp.GB2017. ⟨10.1029/2005GB002591⟩. ⟨hal-00138103⟩