Oceanic iron fertilization: one of strategies for sequestration atmospheric CO₂

Carbon cycle is connected with the most important environmental issue of Global Change.As one of the major carbon reservoirs,oceans play an important part in the carbon cycle.In recent years,iron seems to give us a good news that oceanic iron fertilization could stimulate biological productivity as CO₂ sink of human-produced CO₂.Oceanic iron fertilization experiments have verified that adding iron into high nutrient low chlorophyll(HNLC) seawaters can increase phytoplankton production and export organic carbon,and hence increase carbon sink of anthropogenic CO₂,to reduce global warming.In sixty days,the export organic carbon could reach 10 000 times for adding iron by model prediction and in situ experiment,i.e.the atmospheric CO₂ uptake and inorganic carbon drawdown in upper seawaters also have the same magnitude.Therefore,oceanic iron fertilization is one of the strategies for increasing carbon sink of anthropogenic CO₂.The paper is focused on the iron fertilization,especially in situ ocean iron experiments in order that the future research is more efficient.