RSVP: Joseph Evinger (jdevinger@comcast.net)
When: Every 2nd Thursday of the month, 3:00-4:30 pm
Where: Zoom (click "Zoom" to join event)
Meeting ID: 848 0146 1083
Passcode: science
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Meeting ID: 848 0146 1083
Open to: All
Science and Ideas:
Ocean-based carbon dioxide removal:
Could the Oceans be a solution to climate change?
Presenter: Dr. Veronica Tamsitt, co-founder, Submarine Scientific LLC
The oceans have been Earth's biggest buffer against climate change, absorbing around 90% of the extra heat and at least a quarter of the carbon dioxide we’ve added to the atmosphere. But this has come at a cost. Ocean ecosystems and coastal communities are now facing rapid changes. Ocean warming and acidification are leading to rising sea levels, the bleaching of coral reefs, and the decline of fisheries that many people depend on. While reducing carbon emissions remains our most urgent task, scientists agree we won’t meet international climate goals through emissions cuts alone. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has made it clear: we also need to remove the carbon dioxide we’ve already released into the atmosphere and find ways to store it permanently—either underground or in the deep ocean. This process is called Carbon Dioxide Removal, or CDR.
So far, most efforts to remove CO2 have been small-scale, using costly and energy-intensive machines to capture it directly from the air. But to make a real impact on climate change, we need to remove carbon on a much larger scale—measured in gigatons. The global ocean is the only system vast enough to handle this challenge. There are several techniques being explored to remove carbon dioxide from the ocean’s surface. Some of these approaches could have added benefits, like reducing ocean acidification, but they also come with potential risks to marine life. In this talk, I’ll break down the science of marine CDR, highlight the latest research, and discuss the risks and opportunities these methods present.