Iron and biological productivity in the ocean and consensus formation as a geoengineering

Abstract

There are three areas in the world's oceans where low iron concentration limit the primary production and nutrient concentration is kept high even in summer (Antarctic Ocean, Equatorial upwelling region , subarctic Pacific). The iron fertilization experiment is a friel experiment which add iron to the ocean to promote the primary production and enhance the flux of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to the ocean. In this presentation, we introduce the outline of three experiments led by Japan (SEEDS, SERIES, SEEDS II). Moreover I will tell about recognition and legal restrictions by international communities on the geoengineering methods including iron fertilization after the series of experiments.