The iron hypothesis, created by John Martin, states that if the ocean could be enriched with iron, more phytoplankton blooms could grow that would take the carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and possibly reverse the greenhouse effect. Martin’s test demonstrated that when you germinate high-nutrient, low-chlorophyll zones in the ocean with iron, you increase the production of phytoplankton blooms, this information proves his hypothesis true. This will improve the earth by making the carbon dioxide return to its natural level in the atmosphere. From that, the ice caps would not melt and animals would not go extinct. If the ice caps do melt, then there would be a worldly flood and the salt water would infect the clean water that we need to live. John Martin’s hypothesis could save the livelihood of humans and animals. …show more content…
The carbon dioxide that is tied up in phytoplankton blooms, are not heavy in order to sink fast or far enough. The carbon dioxide from the atmosphere needs to reach deep sea and the blooms are not filled enough to make it that far. The Atlantic is one of the high-nutrient, low-chlorophyll zones and the phytoplankton blooms need sunlight to grow and live, so in the dark, cold winter, the blooms starve. The spring is when the blooms collect the carbon, however by that time, the blooms are either dead or too weak to take. However, Bishop discovered that the carbon levels decreased in the winter, so the blooms are not missing a lot of carbon. Bishop stated that even though iron is important to the blooms make up, so are the other key elements. Therefor, the blooms need every element to increase their production and to maintain life. So Bishop is not saying John Martin’s hypothesis is wrong, it is just
“Oceans”, the third unit from “The Habitable Planet” series, discusses El Nino and the discovery of a new phytoplankton, and how these effect human and marine life . This paper will highlight six facts from the video, emphasizing what they are, how scientists have discovered this information, and what makes them important. In addition to these facts, this paper will explain the term “positive feedback” as briefly mentioned in the video and provide an example of this process outside of El Nino. The first of several interesting facts discussed in the video is that El Nino is responsible for devastating occurrences such as monsoons, droughts, and floods1.
understanding of how the oceans work. The hope is that as a result, we will
1. Life is more abundant in the North Atlantic than in the Pacific because the ocean area of the North Atlantic is directly in the path of iron-rich dust from the Sahara Desert, which leads to the development of bigger communities of phytoplankton, and in turn plankton, and so on. This fact is related to global warming because someone thought of an idea to fight global warming by putting huge amounts of iron solution into the ocean so that extreme plant growth would occur and these plants would remove enough carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere to counter the negative effects of humans.
Glibert, Patricia M. and Daniel E. Terlizzi. “Nutrients, Phytoplankton, and Pfiesteria In the Chesapeake Bay.” Available: http://www.arec.umd.edu/policy/Pfiesteria/terlizzi/terlizzi.htm (22 Nov. 1999).
The reduction in photosynthesising biomass led to an increased reliance on the Worlds other carbon sink, Oceans. Between 26-44% of CO2 in the atmosphere is absorbed by oceans by photosynthesising organisms, mainly phytoplankton (Archer, D. and Pierrehumbert, R., 2011), seawater chemically reacts with aqueous Carbon Dioxide, one of the end products is Hydrogen ions (H+) (NOAA, 2013). The increased concentration of H+ results in the ocean becoming more acidic, since pH is determined by concentration of Hydrogen ions.
With carbon dioxide levels continuing to rise over the past few decades (fig. 1) and now into the future, concern has been brought to what is happening to the carbonate chemistry of the oceans. Because of these changes in chemistry, the ocean is becoming more acidic. Along with climate change, ocean acidification may be one of the greatest threats to our planet. The higher the ocean’s acidity level goes, the lower the calcium carbonate levels will drop. Even though this is a big scale issue, my goal is to focus on and underline what these changes will mean for the marine life that depend on the calcium carbonate in seawater. I will go in depth with specific regards to a study regarding pteropods or sea butterflies.
Ocean acidity will spoil marine ecosystems if it remains persistent. Preserving sustainable fishing industries will become unmanageable if the carbon dioxide absorbed by the world’s oceans is not considerably abridged.
During the 20th century both air and sea temperature has increased and causing several problems. The increase in temperature has caused damages to our eco system. In some countries temperature has increased by a few degrees. In winter, in places where it was cold, now the temperatures has increased and even the sea temperatures have increased, which is melting the Iceberg and destroying the marine life. Scientists projected that if emissions of heat-trapping carbon emission aren’t reduced, average surface temperature could increased 3 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit by the end the century. A good example is that in some Europeans countries the...
90 percent of the effects of global warming are attributed to rising temperatures and heat. This heat tends to affect our oceans due to the ...
According to NOAA phytoplankton are microscopic organisms that continuously convert sunlight and nutrients into living tissue. Phytoplankton can be harmful to the bay because they at an uncontrollable rate causing harmful algae blooms when there is an abundance of nutrients. Phytoplankton also serve as the main food source for a larger but still microscopic organism named Zooplankton. Marine Bio.org did a study on zooplnkton revealing that they are very weak swimmers making them an easy food source for any larger organsim. Zooplanktons’ main purpose serves as the main food source for small fish and
Iron comes from the Latin word ferrum. From ferrum its symbol became Fe. The atomic number of iron is 26, and its atomic weight is 55.845. Iron is a magnetic, bendable, shiny white metallic element.
This book was given to me by a good friend who knew that I had an interest in Asia. I chose to read it because it was a true story and was told that it was a good read.
Iron Deficiency Anemia affects millions of individuals across the world. This disease strikes many more women than men and has harmful effects on all who suffer from this deficiency that causes oxygen-carrying capacity to decrease. The causes can vary amongst different groups, but the aggravating symptoms remain constant. Much of the research on Iron Deficiency Anemia concentrates on not only the treatment of this disease, but also the prevention of it. To attain a better understanding of how to treat this problem, one must clearly know what Iron Deficiency Anemia means, what causes this disease, the effects of it, and finally how to cure it.
Scientists have also considered increasing the rate of photosynthesis in the ocean as a potential CDR method. Ocean iron fertilization is a method where powdered iron sulfate is dumped into the ocean to stimulate phytoplankton growth. Theoretically, more phytoplankton would mean more carbon taken out of the atmosphere. Phytoplanktons naturally remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as they photosynthesize and sequester the CO2 when they die and sink to the bottom of the ocean. (Klusinske).
These results agree with the hypothesis that our “untouched and super-productive world” is affecting marine life ecosystems (Vannela, 2012). All of these results combined confirm the overall hypothesis that pollution is getting worse in the ocean and more marine life ecosystems are being affected, but there