A few weeks ago on September 23rd, an enormous dust storm blew through eastern Australia. The storm lasted for almost two days and at its peak carried about 140,000 tons of top soil per hour from central Australia into Sydney and the Tasman Sea. The majority of this soil (approx. 3 million tons) ended up in the Tasman Sea located between Australia and New Zealand.
The result of this massive influx of minerals found in the top soil dust, to an otherwise nutrient-scarce ‘desert-like’ area of Australian ocean waters, has caused a huge population explosion of microscopic plant life, or phytoplankton, which form the base of the ocean food chain. Researchers say that the results of this unplanned “natural experiment” supports plans of fertilizing the ocean by adding nitrogen-rich urea to the sea in order to increase fish populations and carbon sequestration.
It’s All About The Phytoplankton Baaaaaby!
Phytoplankton are fundamentally crucial to not only sea life, but pretty much every other organism on Earth. Accounting for half of the photosynthetic activity on the planet, phytoplankton are responsible for not only the majority of oxygen produced on the planet, but are also the largest capturer of CO2. Like all photosynthetic organisms, phytoplankton take in carbon dioxide from the air. When the phytoplankton die, the CO2 is carried to the bottom of the ocean along with the dead phytoplankton. The cold and pressure of the deep sea keep the vast majority of this CO2 locked away forever.
Carbon Sink
Ian Jones, director of the Ocean Technology Group at University of Sydney, says enriching oceans with nitrogen fertilization will help fight climate change as well as increase fish stocks worldwide. He goes on further to say that it is estimated that eight million tons of CO2 was captured by the extra two million tons of phytoplankton that grew in the Tasman Sea as a result of the September 23rd dust storm. This amount of CO2 capture is equivalent to a month’s emissions from a medium-sized coal-fired power plant.
Jones and his team are currently awaiting approval to begin testing of his fertilization hypothesis in Australian waters. Their plan is to inject 2.5 tons of urea into the ocean to increase the amount of phytoplankton in a controlled 20 km area. This continuously nourished patch of ocean, Jones claims, could yield fish populations that more than double current numbers. He goes further to state that another desirable consequence of this fertilization would be the 10 million tons of CO2 that would be captured per year by the increased phytoplankton population.
Best Laid Plans Of Men…
This sounds great, but as anyone who is familiar with artificial land fertilization already knows; more does not always mean better. Quite the contrary actually, as artificial fertilization practices used on farms for over the past 50 years have eroded top soil down to being essentially a vessel to hold fertilizer. All of the naturally occurring live microbial processes that help make rich top soil fertile have been essentially destroyed by getting too much of a good thing i.e. artificial fertilizers.
Fertilization in farming was also heralded as a step forward for crop production as well as a completely safe practice, but like drugs or a sugar high, many crops planted on farms that have used artificial fertilization for decades are now dependent on that delivery of nutrients for their continued survival and yields; seeing as the natural processes to achieve this have long since been destroyed as an unintended consequence. Not to mention the numerous other unintended environmental detriments artificial fertilization has caused like water pollution, increased fossil fuel usage, etc. Researchers looking for a quick fix to dwindling fisheries and carbon sequester should study things a little more deeply before concluding it’s a good idea to start artificially manipulating something that is as complex and dynamic as the world’s oceans. We already screwed up the land; don’t add the ocean to the list.
The Good: A naturally occurring process has shown that increases in phytoplankton populations can be achieved through mineral increases at the surface of the ocean.
The Bad: Plans to fertilize the ocean with urea to reproduce the effect of the Australian dust storm seem to be shortsighted at best given the fact that the ocean is such a complex ecosystem.
The Bottom-Line: While on the surface the fertilization plan may seem like a good idea, there is no ‘free lunch’ and researchers, of all people, should know this and be a little more cautious before making the determination that dumping tons of urea into the ocean can have nothing but good consequences.
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