Speaker: Rene Boiteau, Chemical Oceanographer, CEOAS, Oregon State University

Topic: Ocean Iron Fertilization: Knowns and unknowns

Several decades ago, oceanographers first recognized that the addition of iron to surface waters stimulates algal growth in over a third of the ocean. This realization sparked international efforts to understand the role that iron plays in regulating ocean ecosystems and global carbon cycling. How do feedbacks between climate, iron-rich dust deposition, and ocean productivity work? Can humans leverage iron fertilization to offset greenhouse gas emissions or boost fisheries?

Addressing these questions has required ocean scientists to develop new approaches to investigate the amount and origin of the small amounts of iron that is distributed throughout the ocean. Through the GEOTRACES program, a coordinated international effort to quantify metal concentrations and fluxes across the ocean, oceanographers are just now starting to understand the global-scale processes that regulate iron distributions and develop predictions of future changes.