News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Can Anyone Stop the Man Who Will Try Just About Anything to Stop Climate Change?.

Re:Can Anyone Stop the Man Who Will Try Just About Anything ... by LurkingPresence on Tuesday September 13, 2016 @03:41PM (#12491547)
I am not a marine biologist, but is it possible that there is a different substance (maybe something artificial) that could be dumped instead of iron to encourage algae blooms without the associated toxicity? Obviously that would raise the cost. Or maybe iron + substance X to suppress the formation of toxic blooms?

Maybe there is some sort of trade off point here. Where the C02 reduction saves more wildlife than what ends up getting killed off by the toxic blooms?

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Can Anyone Stop the Man Who Will Try Just About Anything ... by buckbova on Tuesday September 13, 2016 @03:45PM (#12491575)
It's not the iron that's toxic, but the oxygen depletion and other toxins expelled from the algae.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algal_bloom#Harmful_algal_bloo...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Can Anyone Stop the Man Who Will Try Just About Anything ... by jessaustin on Tuesday September 13, 2016 @03:47PM (#12491594)
They could be using iron dust because it's cheaply available as a byproduct of something else, but I would have expected e.g. silica dust to be cheaper still.

[EDIT:] thanks for the info! TFA went on and on, yet somehow omitted the explanation for iron...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Can Anyone Stop the Man Who Will Try Just About Anything ... by civilian on Tuesday September 13, 2016 @03:59PM (#12491689)
Iron is needed for photosynthesis, and silicia is not. Iron is the key limiting factor in the growth of oceanic plankton, so it has to be iron.

Optionally, we could use volcanic ash instead. But only because it contains a lot of iron. :)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_fertilization

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Can Anyone Stop the Man Who Will Try Just About Anything ... by shiggerino on Tuesday September 13, 2016 @03:54PM (#12491646)
I bet sewer sludge would be even cheaper, but that practice was banned for a reason. I fail to see how iron oxide is much better.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Can Anyone Stop the Man Who Will Try Just About Anything ... by sp332 on Tuesday September 13, 2016 @03:44PM (#12491567)
Or at least add the iron more gradually.
[ Parent | on HN ]