Global negative emissions capacity of ocean macronutrient fertilization
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15549028 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Daniel P Harrison (0000-0001-8353-6107, The University of Sydney, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 035001-035001 |
| Publication date | 2017-02-07 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Environmental Research Letters (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1748-9326 • E-ISSN: 1748-9326 |
| Publisher | IOP Publishing (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1088/1748-9326/aa5ef5 |
| OpenAlex | W2586806451 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 54 |
In order to meet the goal of limiting global average temperature increase to less than 2 °C, it is increasingly apparent that negative emissions technologies of up to 10 Pg C yr ^−1 will be needed before the end of the century. Recent research indicates that fertilization of the ocean with the macronutrients nitrogen and phosphorus where they limit primary production, may have sequestration advantages over fertilizing iron limited regions. Utilizing global datasets of oceanographic field measurements, and output from a high resolution global circulation model, the current study provides the first comprehensive assessment of the global potential for carbon sequestration from ocean macronutrient fertilization (OMF). Sufficient excess phosphate exists outside the iron limited surface ocean to support once-off sequestration of up to 3.6 Pg C by fertilization with nitrogen. Ongoing maximum capacity of nitrogen only fertilization is estimated at 0.7 ± 0.4 Pg C yr ^−1 . Sequestration capacity is expected to decrease from the upper toward the lower bound over time under continued intense fertilization. If N and P were used in combination the capacity is ultimately limited by societies willingness to utilize phosphate resources. Doubling current phosphate production would allow an additional 0.9 Pg C yr ^−1 and consume 0.07% yr ^−1 of known global resources. Therefore offsetting up to around 15% (1.5 Pg C yr ^−1 ) of annual global CO _2 emissions is assessed as being technically plausible. Environmental risks which to date have received little quantitative evaluation, could also limit the scale of implementation. These results reinforce the need to consider a multi-faceted approach to greenhouse gasses, including a reduction in emissions coupled with further research into negative emissions technologies
Agronomy · Biology · Carbon sequestration · Economics · Human fertilization · Iron fertilization · Limiting · Natural resource economics · Nitrogen · Nutrient · Phosphate · Phosphorus · Phytoplankton · Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols · Chemistry · Climate Change and Geoengineering · Environmental Science · Marine and coastal ecosystems · Ecology
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| Citations per year | 0.67 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2017 - 2026 (10) |
| Highly cited | No |