Is algae bloom taken into account as CO2 sink?
1 Comment
Janet Chikofsky
said
almost 2 years ago
Hi Mauro,
Great question! En-ROADS does not currently include the effects of wildfires or carbon dioxide removal from ocean fertilization (whether from wildfires or intentional human activity). You can explore 5 different methods of technological carbon removal in En-ROADS (bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), direct air capture, enhanced mineralization, biochar, and agricultural soil carbon sequestration), in addition to afforestation. We take our estimates for the potential of these different methods from the 2018 Royal Society Report on Greenhouse Gas Removal (https://royalsociety.org/-/media/policy/projects/greenhouse-gas-removal/royal-society-greenhouse-gas-removal-report-2018.pdf). The report also evaluates intentional ocean fertilization from nitrate/phosphate or iron. Similar to the article you posted, the report notes that there is a great deal of uncertainty about what happens to the carbon taken up by the phytoplankton, and if it is sequestered in the deep ocean, how long it would stay there.
We continually update En-ROADS as we evaluate the latest research, and I'll add your question to our feature requests.
All the best,
Janet
Mauro Mussin
In this article, authors emphasize that australian bush fires caused a phytoplancton"...which sucked up carbon equivalent to as much as 95% of the emissions from the fires...".
Does En-ROADS take into account algae/phytoplancton as a carbon removal item?