Sept 25, 2024 - Today, twelve floating experimental enclosures, known as mesocosms, are once again being launched into the water in Kiel Fjord to investigate the ecological consequences of increasing alkalinity. The experiment is part of the international Ocean Alk-Align project and aims to understand how the ocean can absorb more carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere by adding minerals.
Sept 25, 2024 - Today, twelve floating experimental enclosures, known as mesocosms, are once again being launched into the water in Kiel Fjord to investigate the ecological consequences of increasing alkalinity. The experiment is part of the international Ocean Alk-Align project and aims to understand how the ocean can absorb more carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere by adding minerals.
As the drastic reduction of greenhouse gas emissions alone will not be sufficient to achieve national and international climate protection targets, researchers are intensively searching for ways to actively remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. One approach...
See full article - GEOMAR, How does the addition of rock powder affect marine life?
Sept 23, 2024 - The New York Times: In a quiet patch of forest in Nova Scotia, a company is building a machine designed to help slow global warming by transforming Earth’s rivers and oceans into giant sponges that absorb carbon dioxide from the air.
Sept 23, 2024 - The New York Times: In a quiet patch of forest in Nova Scotia, a company is building a machine designed to help slow global warming by transforming Earth’s rivers and oceans into giant sponges that absorb carbon dioxide from the air.
When switched on later this year, the machine will grind up limestone inside a tall green silo and release the powder into the nearby West River Pictou, creating a chalkiy plume that should...
July 4, 2024 - futurum: We must urgently and dramatically reduce our carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. However, even if we completely cut emissions tomorrow, the atmosphere will still hold the majority of the CO₂ emitted over the past century. This will continue to affect the climate, so scientists are exploring how to enhance the natural, but slow, removal of CO₂ from the atmosphere. At Dalhousie...
July 4, 2024 - futurum: We must urgently and dramatically reduce our carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. However, even if we completely cut emissions tomorrow, the atmosphere will still hold the majority of the CO₂ emitted over the past century. This will continue to affect the climate, so scientists are exploring how to enhance the natural, but slow, removal of CO₂ from the atmosphere. At Dalhousie University in Canada, oceanographers Professor Katja Fennel, Dr Dariia Atamanchuk and Professor Ruth Musgrave are investigating the effectiveness and implications of ocean alkalinity enhancement, a CO₂ removal technique that mimics the natural process of rock weathering.
The need for innovative solutions to fight climate change has never been more urgent. Reducing carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions is key to addressing the climate crisis. However, the accumulated CO₂ already in the atmosphere will continue to affect the climate even when we cut our emissions, and natural removal processes are too slow to make a difference in the next 100 years. So, scientists and policymakers are investigating methods to enhance natural processes that reduce atmospheric CO₂ while CO₂ reduction efforts continue.
Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) techniques remove CO₂ from the atmosphere and ‘lock it away’ in carbon reservoirs. The ocean is one such reservoir, acting as an impressive ally in our battle against climate change. With remarkable efficiency, the ocean has already absorbed a substantial portion – between 25% and 40% – of the CO₂ emissions generated by human activities. Scientists are now investigating ways to increase the ocean’s ability to absorb and store CO₂, thereby reducing CO₂ in the atmosphere. At Dalhousie University, oceanographers Professor Katja Fennel, Dr Dariia Atamanchuk and Professor Ruth Musgrave are studying the effectiveness and implications of one form of CDR – ocean alkalinity enhancement.
This article was produced by Futurum Careers, a free online resource and magazine aimed at encouraging 14-19-year-olds worldwide to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEM), and social sciences, humanities and the arts for people and the economy (SHAPE): www.futurumcareers.com
See full article - futurum, Can ocean alkalinity enhancement reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide?
June 18, 2024 - Carbon to Sea Initiative: Today the Carbon to Sea Initiative (C2S) and COVE are announcing a Joint Learning Opportunity (HERE).
June 18, 2024 - Carbon to Sea Initiative: Today the Carbon to Sea Initiative (C2S) and COVE are announcing a Joint Learning Opportunity (HERE).
The opportunity is designed to attract and support scientists conducting research and companies piloting new technology for emerging ocean-based carbon dioxide removal solutions. It brings together philanthropic, private sector, and academic partners to accelerate learning and minimize the logistical and financial hurdles that scientific research programs sometimes face.
Funding will increase research and development (R&D) to advance monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) and support the evaluation of ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE) for ongoing field research trials taking place in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Today’s announcement builds on the existing collaboration between Planetary and researchers from the Dalhousie University contingent of the Ocean Alk-Align research team led by researcher Dr. Katja Fennel.
Teams will be invited to advance research focused on answering scientific, technical and social questions around the feasibility of ocean alkalinity enhancement during the trial period of August to December. This Joint Learning Opportunity will provide additional resources to new research teams to maximize the opportunity to test, trial and observe the impacts of an alkalinity addition that is already planned, thereby increasing its impact, reach and economic efficiencies to...
June 6, 2024 - The Walrus: In early 2023, members of the Cornwall Marine Liaison Group gathered for a meeting about marine biodiversity featuring a presentation with the Canadian company Planetary Technologies. Over a video call, staff presented their plan to add magnesium hydroxide to the waters of St. Ives Bay, a picturesque crescent on England’s southwest peninsula, via a wastewater pipe. The company pitched the three-month trial as a safe...
June 6, 2024 - The Walrus: In early 2023, members of the Cornwall Marine Liaison Group gathered for a meeting about marine biodiversity featuring a presentation with the Canadian company Planetary Technologies. Over a video call, staff presented their plan to add magnesium hydroxide to the waters of St. Ives Bay, a picturesque crescent on England’s southwest peninsula, via a wastewater pipe. The company pitched the three-month trial as a safe form of carbon dioxide removal—an “antacid for the sea,” says Sue Sayer, founder and director of the Seal Research Trust, who was at the meeting. For the audience, most of whom were highly attuned to the risks of climate change, the idea seemed like something simple and safe.
Months later, though, concerns had surfaced. At a second meeting, this time with townspeople in nearby Hayle, audience members assailed the company with questions: Why St. Ives Bay? What about wildlife? Shortly after that, protesters gathered on a sloping hillside overlooking the bay, holding signs reading “Planetary can stick it up their waste pipe” and demanding more scientific oversight.
Planetary Technologies, based in Nova Scotia, has said that the proposed levels of magnesium hydroxide in the water would be far below that of a toxic dose for marine life; in 2024, an independent audit of the plan deemed it “very low” risk. Planetary also told the community they were committed to extensive monitoring before and after the trial, which was originally set for 2023 but has yet to receive the go-ahead from the UK’s Environment Agency.
See full article - The Walrus, As Temperatures Rise, So Does Pressure to Engineer the Ocean
March 4, 2024 - GEOMAR: With the recently published key points for the German Carbon Management Strategy and the draft amendment to the Carbon Capture and Storage Act, the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action takes a major step towards the implementation of technologies for the capture and...
March 4, 2024 - GEOMAR: With the recently published key points for the German Carbon Management Strategy and the draft amendment to the Carbon Capture and Storage Act, the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action takes a major step towards the implementation of technologies for the capture and storage of carbon dioxide under the seabed. The key points on the Long-Term Strategy for Negative Emissions also drive the development towards climate protection further. Findings from GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel contribute to political and social decision-making.
With two key point papers, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz, BMWK) fleshes out its commitment to climate protection and initiatives to balance carbon dioxide emissions that are currently unavoidable, in particular emissions from cement production and waste combustion. In addition to the key points for the German Carbon Management Strategy and the draft amendment to the Carbon Dioxide Storage Act (Kohlendioxidspeicherungsgesetz), key points for the Long-Term Strategy on Negative Emissions for Dealing with Unavoidable Residual Emissions (Langfriststrategie Negativemissionen zum Umgang mit nicht vermeidbaren Restemissionen, LNe) were also announced. The addressed measures complement the urgent need to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
See full article - GEOMAR, Storing carbon dioxide with the help of the ocean – but safely
February 19, 2024 - GEOMAR: In a multi-week experiment starting today, scientists led by GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel investigate if the addition of rock powder is able to help the ocean absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and mitigate climate change. For this purpose, twelve enclosed test tanks are set up in the water in front of the Kiel Aquarium. With the help of controlled experiments, the...
February 19, 2024 - GEOMAR: In a multi-week experiment starting today, scientists led by GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel investigate if the addition of rock powder is able to help the ocean absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and mitigate climate change. For this purpose, twelve enclosed test tanks are set up in the water in front of the Kiel Aquarium. With the help of controlled experiments, the researchers want to better assess what effects the addition of rock powder might have on the marine environment. The experiment is the first of three that will take place in the Kiel fjord in 2024 as part of the international research project Ocean Alk-Align.
The goal of limiting global warming to ideally below 1.5 degrees Celsius declared in the Paris Climate Agreement and reducing associated risks of climate change is a generational task that cannot be accomplished by reducing greenhouse gas emissions alone. In addition, measures must also be considered to actively remove carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere from unavoidable residual emissions. One of the approaches currently being discussed is Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement (OAE): An addition of certain minerals would increase the capacity of seawater to bind acid and absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. At the same time, it is able to counteract ocean acidification, a change in ocean chemistry, that particularly affects calcifying organisms. Ocean Alkaline Enhancement mimics the weathering of rocks. However, while this process has kept the Earth's climate largely stable over the past billions of years, carbon dioxide input caused by humans is about a hundred times too fast to be compensated for by natural weathering. Studies should therefore reveal to what extent the effect of weathering can be accelerated accordingly.
February 8, 2024 - Climate Story Network: Planetary Technologies caused a stir in August 2023 when they helped researchers from Dalhousie University’s Oceanography Department release a pinkish dye into the outfall at the Tufts Cove Generating Station.
February 8, 2024 - Climate Story Network: Planetary Technologies caused a stir in August 2023 when they helped researchers from Dalhousie University’s Oceanography Department release a pinkish dye into the outfall at the Tufts Cove Generating Station.
That dye-tracing study was part of a new venture that is betting big on carbon removal. Planetary’s wager is that enhancing the alkalinity of seawater will heal marine ecosystems and boost the ocean’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide (CO₂).
Katja Fennel, one of the Dalhousie experts leading the study, says working with Planetary was a practical move.
“This was a mutually beneficial collaboration between our research team and Planetary, which made sense, given the size of the endeavour,” she says.
Will Burt, Planetary’s Chief Ocean Scientist, admits that the method they're using, Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement (OAE), has an unfortunate name.
See full article - Climate Story Network, Inventive intervention for the climate
December 7, 2023 - Halifax Regional Municipality: Dr. Katja Fennel and Dr. Will Burt present to the Halifax Environment and Sustainability Standing Committee about OAE and the recent Bedford Basin field trials.
November 30, 2023 - Science: Standing on the aft deck of a modified 13-meter fishing boat in Halifax Harbour, Dariia Atamanchuk gazes at both a cause of the climate crisis and, she hopes, part of the solution.
On the nearby shore, three red-and-white-striped smokestacks rise like enormous barber poles, funneling carbon dioxide (CO₂) from a natural gas–fueled power plant into the pale morning sky. At the seawall in front of the plant, seawater used to cool its...
November 30, 2023 - Le Devoir: August 24, 2023 - Le Devoir: Standing on the aft deck of a modified 13-meter fishing boat in Halifax Harbour, Dariia Atamanchuk gazes at both a cause of the climate crisis and, she hopes, part of the solution.
On the nearby shore, three red-and-white-striped smokestacks rise like enormous barber poles, funneling carbon dioxide (CO₂) from a natural gas–fueled power plant into the pale morning sky. At the seawall in front of the plant, seawater used to cool its piping flows into the harbor. Normally that water runs clear. But today, the outflow roils in a pink froth, like a cauldron of Pepto Bismol. “Ooh, that’s very milky,” says Atamanchuk, a chemical oceanographer at Dalhousie University.
The colorful eruption, part of an experiment led by the Halifax, Canada–based company Planetary Technologies, contains red rhodamine dye and a slurry of white magnesium hydroxide, the main ingredient in the drug store antacid Milk of Magnesia. The alkaline mineral should, in theory, raise the pH in the surrounding seawater, triggering a chemical reaction that will absorb CO₂ from the atmosphere and convert it to bicarbonate , an ion that can float through the ocean undisturbed for millennia.
In the past few years, this relatively simple reaction has attracted a swarm of philanthropists, government officials, and climate entrepreneurs. Growing alarm about the pace of climate warming and the prospect of a market for carbon-removal credits that could reach $1 trillion by the middle of the next decade are driving much of the activity. Researchers like Atamanchuk, who once had little interest in tinkering with the climate, are joining the throng, drawn by a flood of research money and a desire to understand the promise and perils of pouring alkaline substances into the world’s oceans in quantities that could rise to billions of tons.
August 24, 2023 - Le Devoir: Aux grands maux, les grands moyens ? Dès le mois de septembre, une entreprise va déverser des dizaines de tonnes d’une roche réduite en poudre — de l’hydroxyde de magnésium — dans le port d’Halifax dans le but de retirer du CO₂ de l’atmosphère. Le projet-pilote permettra de vérifier l’efficacité de ce procédé, dont les implications écologiques sont pour l’instant inconnues.
L’expérience simule un processus...
August 24, 2023 - Le Devoir: Aux grands maux, les grands moyens ? Dès le mois de septembre, une entreprise va déverser des dizaines de tonnes d’une roche réduite en poudre — de l’hydroxyde de magnésium — dans le port d’Halifax dans le but de retirer du CO₂ de l’atmosphère. Le projet-pilote permettra de vérifier l’efficacité de ce procédé, dont les implications écologiques sont pour l’instant inconnues.
L’expérience simule un processus naturel, celui de l’érosion des roches, qui rend les mers moins acides, et donc aptes à absorber davantage de carbone. Cette « alcalinisation artificielle des océans » fait partie des solutions de géo-ingénierie que certains scientifiques disent incontournables pour freiner le réchauffement climatique, et que d’autres considèrent comme imprudentes.
« À notre connaissance, ce sera la toute première fois qu’une expérience d’alcalinisation artificielle des océans sera réalisée du début à la fin, même si c’est à très petite échelle. C’est un moment très important », dit Peter Chargin, l’un des vice-présidents de Planetary Technologies, l’entreprise qui mènera le projet-pilote en collaboration avec l’Université Dalhousie.
Pendant une dizaine de semaines, de l’hydroxyde de magnésium sera mélangé et dissous dans les eaux de refroidissement d’une centrale thermique en plein coeur d’Halifax. Cette substance alcaline, issue d’une exploitation minière et utilisée couramment pour le traitement des eaux usées, se retrouvera dans les eaux du port et du bassin de Bedford, où elle doit entrer en action.
See full article - Le Devoir, Une expérience de géoingénierie sur le point de débuter à Halifax
August 20, 2023 - xataka: Hace unos días un grupo de investigadores de la Universidad de Dalhousie se acercó a la estación de Tufts Cove, una planta de generación eléctrica situada en la costa de Halifax, al este de Canadá, y arrojó a su emisario ni más ni menos que 500 litros de un líquido colorante que...
August 20, 2023 - xataka: Hace unos días un grupo de investigadores de la Universidad de Dalhousie se acercó a la estación de Tufts Cove, una planta de generación eléctrica situada en la costa de Halifax, al este de Canadá, y arrojó a su emisario ni más ni menos que 500 litros de un líquido colorante que se extendió por las aguas de la bahía hasta cubrir de rosa un área de 500 metros de diámetro. Igual que si de un estrafalario vertido de chapapote fucsia se tratara, la mancha se prolongó a lo largo del litoral, dibujó más de una mueca de asombro a su paso y, a poco a poco, se esfumó.
No fue una performance relacionada con Barbie.
Ni una gamberrada o despiste de los estudiantes de la Dalhousie.
El propósito del vertido fue bien distinto: combatir el calentamiento global.
¿Qué es esa enorme mancha rosa? Una pregunta tal que así se hizo probablemente más de un vecino de Halifax cuando el jueves de la semana pasada se asomaron a la costa y observaron cómo el agua se teñía de una intensa tonalidad rosada. El vertido salía aparentemente de la estación de Tufts Cove de Nova Scotia Power y se extendió por las aguas del puerto de Halifax hasta formar una columna que, según los cálculos iniciales de los responsables de aquel extraño espectáculo, estaba diseñada para cubrir un área de alrededor de 500 metros de diámetro.
August 15, 2023 - Focus: Co się stało w porcie w Halifax, kanadyjskim mieście w prowincji Nowa Szkocja? Wody u wybrzeża zmieniły kolor na różowy, przypominając nieco krajobraz z filmu „Barbie” – tegorocznego hitu kinowego. Okazuje się, że zjawisko wywołano celowo i to w imieniu nauki.
Mieszkańcy Halifax w Nowej Szkocji na pewno...
August 15, 2023 - Focus: Co się stało w porcie w Halifax, kanadyjskim mieście w prowincji Nowa Szkocja? Wody u wybrzeża zmieniły kolor na różowy, przypominając nieco krajobraz z filmu „Barbie” – tegorocznego hitu kinowego. Okazuje się, że zjawisko wywołano celowo i to w imieniu nauki.
Mieszkańcy Halifax w Nowej Szkocji na pewno byli zdziwieni, kiedy zobaczyli 10 sierpnia, jak wody przy porcie zmieniły kolor na różowy. Do nietypowej sytuacji doszło w zatoce Bedford, do której spływa niewielka rzeka Sackville. „Dziewczęca” barwa wód nie ma jednak związku z tegorocznym hitem kinowym.
Rozwiązanie zagadkowej barwy wód jest zupełnie inne. Naukowcy z Uniwersytetu Dalhousie chcą sprawdzić, czy zastosowany barwnik wpłynie na zdolność pochłaniania dwutlenku węgla przez ocean. O sytuacji w Halifax donoszą kanadyjskie media, w tym
To, co się dzieje, na wybrzeżu nowoszkockiej metropolii może budzić wiele oburzenia, ale w gruncie rzeczy nie mamy na czynienia z żadnym zatruciem środowiska. Aby zrozumieć badania naukowców, musimy nieco przyjrzeć się samej chemii oceanów i temu, jak wpływają one na światowy klimat.
August 11, 2023 - City News: The Todd Veinottee Show interview with Katja about the Rhodamine tracer experiment in Bedford Basin
August 11, 2023 - CTV News: Researchers in Nova Scotia are dyeing the Halifax Harbour pink as part of long-term research project that could help reverse some of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.
Researchers with Dalhousie University added pink fluorescent dye to Nova Scotia Power's Tufts Cove Generating Station in Dartmouth, so the colour can be tracked...
August 11, 2023 - CTV News: Researchers in Nova Scotia are dyeing the Halifax Harbour pink as part of long-term research project that could help reverse some of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.
Dalhousie University, along with the organization Planetary Technologies, released 500 litres of a safe, pink fluorescent dye into the harbour to see how far it will travel.
The move is the first step, says Katja Fennel, an oceanographer at Dalhousie, before researchers release alkaline material into the water this fall.
That material will effectively act as an antacid for the ocean, helping to neutralize the additional acidic carbon dioxide being absorbed by the world's oceans.
August 10, 2023 - CBC News: Some parts of the Halifax harbour turned a bright shade of pink on Thursday — for science.
Researchers with Dalhousie University added pink fluorescent dye to Nova Scotia Power's Tufts Cove Generating Station in Dartmouth, so the colour can be tracked...
August 10, 2023 - CBC News: Some parts of the Halifax harbour turned a bright shade of pink on Thursday — for science.
Researchers with Dalhousie University added pink fluorescent dye to Nova Scotia Power's Tufts Cove Generating Station in Dartmouth, so the colour can be tracked as it moves through the harbour over the next couple of days.
It's part of an experiment that could one day help the ocean better absorb carbon dioxide.
"This is only a small bit, actually, in a much bigger research endeavour," Katja Fennel, an oceanographer leading the research, told CBC Radio's Maritime Noon on Thursday.
See full article - CBC News, Dyeing the Halifax harbour pink to help fight climate change
See also interview - CBC Listen, Maritime Noon with Bob Murphy
August 10, 2023 - CTV News Atlantic: Dalhousie University is testing some locally developed technology to see if it can remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
August 10, 2023 - Saltwire: Some people may have noticed the Halifax Harbour near Nova Scotia Power's Tufts Cove Generating Station was glowing pink under the sun on Thursday morning.
That's because researchers from Dalhousie University added 500 litres of pink dye to the outfall of the power station to observe dispersal patterns before...
August 10, 2023 - Saltwire: Some people may have noticed the Halifax Harbour near Nova Scotia Power's Tufts Cove Generating Station was glowing pink under the sun on Thursday morning.
That's because researchers from Dalhousie University added 500 litres of pink dye to the outfall of the power station to observe dispersal patterns before going ahead with a plan to add a base to lower the acidity of seawater.
The hoped-for outcome is that it will increase the ability of seawater to absorb atmospheric carbon while lessening the impact of climate change on creatures that build themselves calcium-based shells (like oysters, lobster and coral).
The dye was only visible for a few hours after it entered the water.
See full article - Saltwire, Dalhousie researchers dye Halifax Harbour for climate change study
We check in with Dr. Katja Fennel, Dalhousie Oceanographer, to find out more about a dye-tracing study happening in Halifax Harbour this week to study a new carbon dioxide removal method.
August 4, 2023 - Saltwire: Dyeing the Bedford Basin pink won’t save the world.
But it is the first step in testing a long-shot idea that could, maybe, help alleviate the impacts of climate change someday.
“It’s desperate times here, so we need to look at all the possible solutions that could potentially be done safely without causing more problems,” said Katja Fennel, a...
August 4, 2023 - Saltwire: Dyeing the Bedford Basin pink won’t save the world.
But it is the first step in testing a long-shot idea that could, maybe, help alleviate the impacts of climate change someday.
“It’s desperate times here, so we need to look at all the possible solutions that could potentially be done safely without causing more problems,” said Katja Fennel, a Dalhousie University oceanographer.
Fennel is leading a study that will test the idea of adding a base to seawater to lower its acidity. The hoped-for outcome is that it will increase the ability of seawater to absorb atmospheric carbon while lessening the impact of climate change on creatures that build themselves calcium-based shells (like oysters, lobster and coral).
On Wednesday, (weather permitting) Fennel’s team will add 500 litres of pink dye to the outfall of Nova Scotia Power’s Tufts Cove Generating Station to test dispersal in the Bedford Basin.
See full article - Saltwire, Bedford Basin to be dyed pink to fight climate change
August 1, 2023 - Dal News: August 1, 2023 (Halifax, N.S.) – Dalhousie scientists will conduct a dye-tracing study on August 9, 2023, beginning at approximately 9 a.m., which includes the release of 500 litres of a dilute solution of a dye into Halifax Harbour via the cooling water outfall from Nova Scotia Power’s Tufts Cove Generating...
August 1, 2023 - Dal News: August 1, 2023 (Halifax, N.S.) – Dalhousie scientists will conduct a dye-tracing study on August 9, 2023, beginning at approximately 9 a.m., which includes the release of 500 litres of a dilute solution of a dye into Halifax Harbour via the cooling water outfall from Nova Scotia Power’s Tufts Cove Generating Station. If weather does not permit, the field study will take place on August 10 or 11, 2023.
The dye-tracing study is being conducted to prepare for subsequent field trials in September and October 2023 focused on technology developed by Dartmouth-based company Planetary Technologies to remove carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere. It is the first study in a multi-year research program.
Called ocean alkalinity enhancement, the process studied aims to remove CO₂ from the atmosphere by dispersing a mildly alkaline substance, similar to the antacids we take for heartburn, in the ocean. By doing this, Planetary aims to increase the ocean’s capacity to draw down and retain CO₂ from the atmosphere.
June 28, 2023 - The Mirage: Climate change research by Southern Cross University's Associate Professor Kai Schulz is advancing knowledge of a promising but so far untested method of carbon dioxide (CO₂) removal and storage.
Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement (OAE) involves the controlled addition of crushed minerals or suitable alkaline agents from industrial processes into the ocean as a means of mitigating climate change. Conceptually...
June 28, 2023 - The Mirage: Climate change research by Southern Cross University's Associate Professor Kai Schulz is advancing knowledge of a promising but so far untested method of carbon dioxide (CO₂) removal and storage.
Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement (OAE) involves the controlled addition of crushed minerals or suitable alkaline agents from industrial processes into the ocean as a means of mitigating climate change. Conceptually, OAE would speed up the natural process of rock weathering which controls atmospheric CO₂ concentrations on geological time scales.
Currently based in Germany, Associate Professor Schulz's research is part of a five-year, $11 million partnership between Southern Cross University, UTAS, University of Hamburg, the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research (Kiel), and Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Funding has come from the Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement R&D Program, a multi-funder effort incubated by the Carbon to Sea Initiative which launched recently.
June 28, 2023 - Nature: A New York experiment is part of a commercial race to develop ocean-based technologies to extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Katja Fennel, an oceanographer with Dalhousie, will lead a team of international researchers in the five-year study into reversing ocean acidification. Oceans are becoming more acidic, which is reducing their ability to...
June 28, 2023 - Nature: A New York experiment is part of a commercial race to develop ocean-based technologies to extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Bonnie Chang squints at a tube of sediment collected beneath the shallow waters off North Sea Beach — about a two-hour drive from New York City. She’s looking for green mineral crystals that her team added to the sand last year. If all goes as planned, these olivine crystals will cause the ocean to absorb more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere — a climate solution that could potentially be scaled up around the globe.
June 25, 2023 - Entrevestor: Dalhousie University’s Ocean Alk-align research program, which is studying how to make the world’s oceans more alkaline, has received almost $15 million from the Carbon to Sea Initiative.
Katja Fennel, an oceanographer with Dalhousie, will lead a team of international researchers in the five-year study into reversing ocean acidification. Oceans are becoming more acidic, which is reducing their ability to...
June 25, 2023 - Entrevestor: Dalhousie University’s Ocean Alk-align research program, which is studying how to make the world’s oceans more alkaline, has received almost $15 million from the Carbon to Sea Initiative.
Katja Fennel, an oceanographer with Dalhousie, will lead a team of international researchers in the five-year study into reversing ocean acidification. Oceans are becoming more acidic, which is reducing their ability to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The Ocean Alk-align program will study how to reverse the acidification of the oceans, with the goal of helping the oceans to capture CO₂ and hopefully ease climate change.
“Currently, ocean alkalinity enhancement is not a mature technology and its environmental impacts have not been assessed in the field,” said Fennel in a statement. “Our research consortium will tackle the three most pressing research issues: the efficiency and permanence of CO₂ removal, its environmental risks and potential benefits, and the monitoring and verification of CO₂ uptake.”
The $15 million grant from the Carbon to Sea Initiative is the largest funding commitment that the program has received to date. Carbon to Sea is a non-profit organization dedicated to funding the study of “Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement”, or finding ways to reduce the acidity of oceans.
See full article - Entrevestor, Dal Lands $15M for Ocean Acidity Study
June 22, 2023 - Deutschlandfunk: Meere können CO₂ aus der Luft wieder speichern. Damit sie das schneller machen, kann man Gesteinsmehl hineinschütten. Doch funktioniert diese Idee auch in der Praxis und im großen Stil? Das wird nun auf Helgoland getestet.
June 16, 2023 - CTV News: A Dalhousie University-led team of researchers has received nearly $15 million dollars to explore whether the oceans can absorb more carbon dioxide, and if it’s possible to safely speed up the ocean’s absorbing process.
“I think we’re at a really critical phase now in this fight against global warming. Now it’s make or break,” said...
June 16, 2023 - CTV News: A Dalhousie University-led team of researchers has received nearly $15 million dollars to explore whether the oceans can absorb more carbon dioxide, and if it’s possible to safely speed up the ocean’s absorbing process.
“I think we’re at a really critical phase now in this fight against global warming. Now it’s make or break,” said Katja Fennel, lead researcher and chair of Dalhousie’s department of oceanography.
“And having this opportunity to pursue whether this option is viable in helping mitigate the effects is really exciting. It’s also humbling.”
The key question that researchers from North America, Australia and Europe are exploring is whether adding alkaline to the ocean could enhance its ability to take in more CO₂.
The process of alkalinity enhancement is similar to adding an antacid to the ocean — the kind people take for heartburn.
June 15, 2023 - Huddle: HALIFAX–With humanity struggling to get climate change under control, academics and researchers are looking for ways to remove more carbon from our atmosphere.
The task is daunting. It is estimated that, in order to prevent the global temperature from rising more than 1.5 degrees, we will have to remove hundreds of billions of tonnes of carbon from the...
June 15, 2023 - Huddle: HALIFAX–With humanity struggling to get climate change under control, academics and researchers are looking for ways to remove more carbon from our atmosphere.
The task is daunting. It is estimated that, in order to prevent the global temperature from rising more than 1.5 degrees, we will have to remove hundreds of billions of tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere this century.
Much focus over the years has been placed on the importance of trees and their ability to remove carbon. Preserving and planting more forests will help in our fight, but what about the ocean?
Many people don’t know that, for eons, the Earth’s largest body of water has been an important carbon sponge for the planet. According to the Carbon to Sea Initiative, 38 trillion tonnes of carbon is stored in the ocean. Now, academic researchers at Dalhousie University are partnering with Halifax’s booming ocean tech sector to allow the ocean to suck up even more carbon from the atmosphere.
“I would say the ocean is doing way more than the Amazon rainforest,” says Dalhousie oceanographer Dr. Katja Fennel. “The ocean is holding much more carbon dioxide than the Amazon rainforest. It has taken up a lot since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.”
See full article - Huddle, Halifax Researchers Want to Alter the Ocean to Slow Climate Change
June 14, 2023 - Saltwire: DARTMOUTH, N.S. — Dalhousie University has received nearly $15 million from the Carbon to Sea Initiative to spearhead a new project aimed at reducing greenhouse gases through ocean study.
The Ocean Alk-align research program will bring in researchers from across the globe to study ocean alkalinity enhancement, a process...
June 14, 2023 - Saltwire: DARTMOUTH, N.S. — Dalhousie University has received nearly $15 million from the Carbon to Sea Initiative to spearhead a new project aimed at reducing greenhouse gases through ocean study.
The Ocean Alk-align research program will bring in researchers from across the globe to study ocean alkalinity enhancement, a process compared to adding an antacid to the ocean.
The project, led by Dalhousie University oceanologist Katja Fennel, will attempt to counteract ocean acidification and make ocean waters more receptive to absorbing carbon.
"Currently, ocean alkalinity enhancement is not a mature technology and its environmental impacts have not been assessed in the field,” said Fennel. “Our research consortium will tackle the three most pressing research issues: the efficiency and permanence of CO₂ removal, its environmental risks and potential benefits, and the monitoring and verification of CO₂ uptake.”
June 14, 2023 - ECO Magazine: Dalhousie University has received nearly CAD$15 million from the Carbon to Sea Initiative to lead the Ocean Alk-align research program, a global five-year project that will bring researchers together from around the world to study ocean alkalinity enhancement—an approach for atmospheric carbon removal that aims to mitigate...
June 14, 2023 - ECO Magazine: oDalhousie University has received nearly CAD$15 million from the Carbon to Sea Initiative to lead the Ocean Alk-align research program, a global five-year project that will bring researchers together from around the world to study ocean alkalinity enhancement—an approach for atmospheric carbon removal that aims to mitigate climate change.
The process of alkalinity enhancement is compared to adding an antacid to the ocean, the kind we take for heartburn or when our stomachs are upset. Over the past 200 years, the burning of fossil fuels has increased ocean acidification and reduced its ability to absorb carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere. Through targeted enhancement of ocean alkalinity, Dalhousie oceanographer Dr. Katja Fennel and her colleagues will study if they can reverse ocean acidification to make the ocean more receptive to CO₂ absorption.
The Dalhousie-led Ocean Alk-align project is supported by the Carbon to Sea Initiative, a non-profit program funded by philanthropic foundations in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Carbon to Sea seeks to assess the conditions under which ocean alkalinity enhancement can become a safe, cost-effective, and scalable method for atmospheric CO₂ removal. The $15-million CAD grant to Alk-align is the largest funding commitment of the initiative to date.
June 14, 2023 - Dal News: The United Nations calls the ocean “the lungs of the planet.” It absorbs 25 per cent of all carbon dioxide emissions and sequesters up to four times more carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere than terrestrial forests. But what if it could take an even deeper breath? What if we could leverage its natural capacity to...
June 14, 2023 - Dal News: The United Nations calls the ocean “the lungs of the planet.” It absorbs 25 per cent of all carbon dioxide emissions and sequesters up to four times more carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere than terrestrial forests. But what if it could take an even deeper breath? What if we could leverage its natural capacity to sequester CO₂ from the atmosphere?
The answer to this question has the potential to be game changing for humanity’s fight against climate change, and Dalhousie has taken the global lead in pursuing it with nearly $15 million in support from the Carbon to Sea Initiative. Lead principal investigator Dr. Katja Fennel, chair of Dalhousie’s Department of Oceanography, says the Ocean Alk-align research program, which includes researchers in North America, Europe, and Australia, will investigate how a human-induced increase in ocean alkalinity could enhance the ocean’s ability to absorb and hold carbon.
June 9, 2023 - NDR: Mit jedem neuen Weltklimabericht wird klar: Die Klimaziele sind allein durch CO₂-Einsparungen nicht zu erreichen. Die Netto-Null-Emmission braucht Kohlenstoffsenken - auch künstlich erzeugte.
Dabei sind Politikerinnen und Forscher nicht unbedingt immer davon überzeugt, dass Methoden wie CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) tatsächlich die Lösung sind. Auch für unsere Autorin Yasmin Appelhans war das ein Lernprozess. Heute sagt sie: Verfahren, um Kohlenstoff aus der Atmosphäre zu entnehmen, sind nicht die Lösung - aber ein Teil davon. Und dabei spielt das Meer eine größere Rolle als lange Zeit angenommen.
June 8, 2023 - Philanthropy News Digest: Additional Ventures has announced the launch of the Carbon to Sea initiative, a nonprofit scientific research program with more than $50 million in commitments over five years from multiple funders to accelerate research on the use of the oceans as a store for carbon dioxide from earth’s atmosphere.
Additional Ventures, co-founded by Erin Hoffmann and former Meta chief technology officer...
June 8, 2023 - Philanthropy News Digest: Additional Ventures has announced the launch of the Carbon to Sea initiative, a nonprofit scientific research program with more than $50 million in commitments over five years from multiple funders to accelerate research on the use of the oceans as a store for carbon dioxide from earth’s atmosphere.
Additional Ventures, co-founded by Erin Hoffmann and former Meta chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer, has already committed grants totaling $23 million to a network of researchers focused on ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE), a carbon capture method that uses the oceans to sequester the greenhouse gas. Funders include the Astera Institute, Builders Initiative, Catalyst for Impact, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, OceanKind, and the Grantham, Kissick Family, and Thistledown foundations. Additional Ventures is a group of entities that include the Additional Ventures Foundation, Additional Ventures LLC, and a donor-advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.
According to Additional Ventures, OAE has the potential to permanently remove and store carbon, and more funding for research is needed. The ocean already contains 50 times more carbon than the atmosphere and permanently locks away more than a gigaton of atmospheric carbon dioxide every year via a natural process called “weathering.” As alkaline rock washes into the sea, it neutralizes harmful acid and enables the ocean to pull more carbon dioxide from the air and safely store it. OAE could dramatically accelerate this natural process while counteracting ocean acidification.
June 7, 2023 - Additional Ventures: Today we’re announcing that Additional Ventures has created and spun out the Carbon to Sea Initiative, a $50M+ multi-funder, non-profit scientific research program to advance one of the most promising ocean-carbon dioxide removal pathways: ocean alkalinity enhancement...
June 7, 2023 - Additional Ventures: Today we’re announcing that Additional Ventures has created and spun out the Carbon to Sea Initiative, a $50M+ multi-funder, non-profit scientific research program to advance one of the most promising ocean-carbon dioxide removal pathways: ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE).
Carbon to Sea has already committed $23 million in grant funding to a network of dozens of researchers focused on OAE. Details about the grant-funded research and engineering projects are available on the Carbon to Sea website.
This new initiative builds on a growing global consensus that averting climate catastrophe requires reducing emissions and removing atmospheric CO₂. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says we need to remove hundreds of billions of tons of atmospheric CO₂ this century, and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine highlighted OAE as one of the highest potential ocean CDR pathways in a major research roadmap they published in 2021.
See full article - Additional Ventures, Announcing the Launch of the Carbon to Sea Initiative
June 6, 2023 - MIT: A nonprofit formed by Mike Schroepfer, Meta’s former chief technology officer, has spun out a new organization dedicated to accelerating research into ocean alkalinity enhancement—one potential means of using the seas to suck up and store away even more carbon dioxide.
Additional Ventures, cofounded by Schroepfer, and a group of other foundations...
June 6, 2023 - MIT: A nonprofit formed by Mike Schroepfer, Meta’s former chief technology officer, has spun out a new organization dedicated to accelerating research into ocean alkalinity enhancement—one potential means of using the seas to suck up and store away even more carbon dioxide.
Additional Ventures, cofounded by Schroepfer, and a group of other foundations have committed $50 million over five years to the nonprofit research program, dubbed the Carbon to Sea Initiative. The goals of the effort include evaluating potential approaches; eventually conducting small-scale field trials in the ocean; advancing policies that could streamline permitting for those experiments and provide more public funding for research; and developing the technology necessary to carry out and assess these interventions if they prove to work well and safely.
The seas already act as a powerful buffer against the worst dangers of climate change, drawing down about a quarter of human-driven carbon dioxide emissions and absorbing the vast majority of global warming. Carbon dioxide dissolves naturally into seawater where the air and ocean meet.
But scientists and startups are exploring whether these global commons can do even more to ease climate change, as a growing body of research finds that nations now need to both slash emissions and pull vast amounts of additional greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere to keep warming in check.
See full article - MIT, Meta’s former CTO has a new $50 million project: ocean-based carbon removal
April 4, 2023 - GEOMAR: 04.04.2023/Kiel/Helgoland. In a large-scale experiment that has just begun on the island of Helgoland, a team of 30 researchers is testing to which extent the ocean is able to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero. In mesocosms, free-floating closed experimental facilities, the group investigates whether the ocean can absorb more carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere...
April 4, 2023 - GEOMAR: 04.04.2023/Kiel/Helgoland. In a large-scale experiment that has just begun on the island of Helgoland, a team of 30 researchers is testing to which extent the ocean is able to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero. In mesocosms, free-floating closed experimental facilities, the group investigates whether the ocean can absorb more carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere through the addition of slaked lime and what influence this has on plankton communities in the sea. The experiment is part of the research consortium RETAKE of the research mission “Marine carbon sinks in decarbonisation pathways” (CDRmare) of the German Marine Research Alliance (Deutsche Allianz Meeresforschung, DAM). The consortium aims to provide society and politics with actionable knowledge about the feasibility, potential and risks of alkalinity enhancement in a cross-disciplinary approach.
Even with a very ambitious climate policy supported and implemented by all states, humankind is still expected to emit ten to 20 per cent of current carbon dioxide emissions in three decades’ time, further advancing climate change. Nevertheless, in order to limit global warming and its impacts as laid down in the Paris Agreement, greenhouse gas emissions have to reach “net zero”. Net zero means achieving a balance between human-induced greenhouse gas emissions and greenhouse gases removed from the atmosphere and stored over the long term. This requires active carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere, which compensates unavoidable residual emissions. The extent to which the ocean is able to support such approaches and what ecological risks might be associated with them is currently being investigated by a team of researchers in a study on the North Sea island of Helgoland. The study, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF), is part of the RETAKE consortium of the research mission “Marine carbon sinks in decarbonisation pathways” (CDRmare) of the German Marine Research Alliance (Deutsche Allianz Meeresforschung, DAM).
See full article - GEOMAR, Using slaked lime to fight climate change
February 8, 2023 - Nautilus: Early this year, Gaurav Sant will flip a switch on a machine aboard a battered barge tied up at a dock on the Los Angeles waterfront.
If all goes as expected, a pump will suck water from the Pacific Ocean through a 3-inch-wide pipe into a metal box roughly the size of a delivery van. An electrical charge flowing through that box will spark a series of chemical...
February 8, 2023 - Nautilus: Early this year, Gaurav Sant will flip a switch on a machine aboard a battered barge tied up at a dock on the Los Angeles waterfront.
If all goes as expected, a pump will suck water from the Pacific Ocean through a 3-inch-wide pipe into a metal box roughly the size of a delivery van. An electrical charge flowing through that box will spark a series of chemical reactions. The water will flow out through another pipe and back into the ocean.
To the naked eye the water will look unchanged, but there will be one crucial difference: The outflow will have less carbon dioxide.
The CO₂ will instead be broken into bicarbonate molecules or trapped as an ingredient in calcium carbonate, the same material corals use to build reefs. The carbon inside them will stay out of the atmosphere for millennia—and water leaving the device, now stripped of CO₂, will be able to reabsorb even more of it.
See full article - Nautilus, How Seawater Might Soak Up More Carbon
February 6, 2023 - CBC radio: Mainstreet NS with Jeff Douglass - Dal's Boris Worm and Planetary's Will Burt and Peter Chargin talk about OAE plans for Halifax.
May 17, 2022 - GEOMAR: How can carbon dioxide (CO₂) be removed from the atmosphere and stored safely and permanently in the ocean? This question is being investigated by scientists from seven nations led by GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel in an experiment just starting in the Raunefjord near Bergen, Norway. In mesocosms, free-floating, experimental enclosures, they are exploring whether the ocean can absorb additional CO₂ from the atmosphere through the addition of alkaline...
May 17, 2022 - GEOMAR: How can carbon dioxide (CO₂) be removed from the atmosphere and stored safely and permanently in the ocean? This question is being investigated by scientists from seven nations led by GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel in an experiment just starting in the Raunefjord near Bergen, Norway. In mesocosms, free-floating, experimental enclosures, they are exploring whether the ocean can absorb additional CO₂ from the atmosphere through the addition of alkaline minerals – known as ocean alkalinisation – and what influence this has on marine communities. The study will last until mid-July and takes place as part of the Ocean-based Negative Emission Technologies (OceanNETs) project funded by the European Union.
The target is clear: In the Paris Agreement, the global community agreed to limit global warming to well below 2° Celsius and to make efforts to keep it below 1.5° Celsius. This can only be achieved if we drastically reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and take measures to actively remove carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere again – in other words, create “negative emissions”. To what extent the ocean can support this and what risks and side effects might occur is currently being investigated by an international 43-member research team led by GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel in a study south of Bergen, Norway.
See full article - GEOMAR, Using alkaline rock minerals to combat climate change
September 17, 2021 - In a mesocosm experiment just starting on Gran Canaria, scientists from six nations led by GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel are investigating to what extent the ocean can help absorb more carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the air and what impacts this has on marine life. The experiment is taking place as part of the EU project Ocean-based Negative..
September 17, 2021 - In a mesocosm experiment just starting on Gran Canaria, scientists from six nations led by GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel are investigating to what extent the ocean can help absorb more carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the air and what impacts this has on marine life. The experiment is taking place as part of the EU project Ocean-based Negative Emission Technologies (OceanNETs). The project, which has been running since July 2020, aims to provide an integrated assessment of targeted measures for CO₂ removal in the ocean.
The human-induced increase in carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentration in the atmosphere continues. With well-known consequences: The climate is changing, extreme weather events are increasing in many places, with sometimes dramatic effects on humans and nature. According to current estimates by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the goal of limiting global warming to as close to 1.5° Celsius as possible decided in the Paris Agreement, can no longer be achieved without active removal of CO₂. The Ocean-based Negative Emission Technologies (OceanNETs) project, funded by the European Union and coordinated at GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, is investigating to what extent ocean-based approaches could contribute to achieving this goal.
See full article - GEOMAR, Making the ocean an ally in climate protection