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Index of Subjects Quoting David & Alison Webster <dwebster@glinx.com>: > Thanks for the URLs. What a mess; the lesson being that carbon > trades, at the best of times, are just elaborate frauds of which > this is an outstanding example. * certainly agree about the things that are called carbon credits, since none of them seem to sequester carbon on more than a decadal scale - I'd only give carbon credits for a raised sill on a peaty wetland. But as far as this iron fertilization goes, I'll wait until the Salmon that summer in that area come back - if they return a year early with a great wide 2012 annulus on their scales, then the fertilizers will be vindicated - if otherwise, then they'll not have been vindicated. fred. ================================================== > > And the long-suffering taxpayer, with two frayed ropes and a used > apple barrel for clothes (nod to Chambers), will eventually have to > pay for the 2.5 million flop, the one million in legal fees and the > $257.43 fine. > > Yt, DW > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Fred Schueler" <bckcdb@istar.ca> > To: <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca>; "David & Alison Webster" <dwebster@glinx.com> > Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2012 11:29 PM > Subject: Re: [NatureNS] Iron fertilization > > >> Quoting David & Alison Webster <dwebster@glinx.com>: >> >>> I gather from your comments about 'iron fertilization' that >>> another trial has run into opposition. Unfortunate if true. >>> >>> Certainly trying to unscramble the real effects of a broadcast >>> application in the open ocean is problematic but the remedy is to >>> devise approaches that are amenable to statistical test and refine >>> methods on the basis of results as opposed to debate-- e.g. how >>> many phytoplankton can grow on the head of an iron pin anyway ?). >> >> * here's the NY Times account - >> http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/19/science/earth/iron-dumping-experiment-in-pacific-alarms-marine-experts.html?_r=2&emc=eta1& - and some sleuthing of details - http://watershedsentinel.ca/content/new-evidence-re-old-masset-iron-fertilization-scheme - and the CBC - http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2012/10/19/bc-ocean-fertilization-haida.html everybody seems to be dissing this because none of their friends were part of the scientific >> staff. >> >> It seems to me that if what iron fertilization needed was larger >> scale experiments, then the thing to do is to wait for the >> experimenters' report on this project, and if that proves to be >> inadequate, infer what it's possible to infer from this 100 tonne >> event, and then see how to do, and fund, a better-controlled >> experiment. There's great howling against geoengineering, but if >> we've geomodified the Earth by burning up forests and fossil >> fuels, then we've got to find out what to do to counteract this or >> go back to the late Permian/early Triassic condition of 40C >> equatorial ocean waters, and 50C equatorial lands. >> >> fred. >> ================================================================ >>> >>> Why not e.g. enclose test areas with a polyethylene curtain >>> around the perimeter, let them drift, sample fallout at intervals >>> and naturally sample phytoplankton and water composition in the >>> upper enclosed layers. One could then have real control and test >>> plots replicated as necessary based on accumulating experience. >>> With beacons to locate scattered plots and automated >>> sampling/recording, a mother ship (or more as necessary) could >>> service sufficient plots over time to obtain data amenable to >>> statistical tests. >>> >>> Iron has been entering the ocean, mostly as dust or eroded >>> fines, since the dawn of time and, if I recall correctly, areas >>> with high natural addition rates are unusually productive. >>> >>> The high productivity of the Bay of Fundy is often attributed >>> to deep mixing of nutrients but is iron perhaps one of these or >>> even the key nutrient ? Fine soil (iron rich) gets swept down >>> the Bay with every falling tide. >>> >>> Which is worse, the potential to make a few mistakes in small >>> areas of ocean or the really large mistake associated with >>> contributing to permafrost melt, release of methane from methyl >>> hydrate, massive positive feedback and runaway global warming ? >>> >>> Yt, Dave Webster, Kentville >> ------------------------------------------------------------ Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad Bishops Mills Natural History Centre - http://pinicola.ca/bmnhc.htm Mudpuppy Night in Oxford Mills - http://pinicola.ca/mudpup1.htm Daily Paintings - http://karstaddailypaintings.blogspot.com/ South Nation Basin Art & Science Book http://pinicola.ca/books/SNR_book.htm RR#2 Bishops Mills, Ontario, Canada K0G 1T0 on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44* 52'N 75* 42'W (613)258-3107 <bckcdb at istar.ca> http://pinicola.ca/ ------------------------------------------------------------
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