14 DAY TRIAL // Geoengineering is a field of research that has only recently begun being seriously considered for practical applications. The reason why it has remained relatively obscured over the past few years is the fact that it entails large risks, which may affect our entire planet. This line of study basically refers to methods of producing large-scale changes on Earth, so that the effects of climate change and global warming are reduced. Now, scientists propose a method of doing that. The approach left many perplexed.
At this point, there are several geoengineering schemes being considered, such as adding thousands of tons of iron oxide to the surface of oceans. This would ensure that phytoplankton blooms faster and in larger quantities. In turn, when they die, these organisms carry with them to the bottom vast amounts of carbon dioxide, which is therefore fixed under the water. But the long-term effects of this approach are unknown. Other methods propose adding small particulates to the air, so that the atmosphere reflects back more sunlight than it does today, reducing the greenhouse effect.
Speaking recently in Pacific Grove, California, at an international meeting on geoengineering research, Harvard University physicist Russell Seitz proposed the injection of massive swarms of bubble into the oceans. He says the approach would ensure that the reflectivity index of the water will be increased, thus lowering the ocean's temperature, and protecting the endangered ice sheets of the Arctic, the Antarctic and Greenland. “Since water covers most of the Earth, don’t dim the sun. Brighten the water,” the expert said at the meeting, ScienceNow reports.
In the new approach, ships patrolling the oceans may be outfitted with special devices to mix the water, which would basically supercharge the oceans with compressed air. The end result would be the creation of billions upon billions of bubbles behind the ship. Because the bubbles would be very, very small, they will basically act like mirrors made of air, the researcher stated. “I’m emulating a natural ocean phenomenon and amplifying it just by changing the physics – the ingredients remain the same,” the investigator concluded. Details of the method have been submitted for publication to the respected scientific publication Climatic Change.