|
|
Article: Tiny plants challenge greenhouse plan. (effect of Antarctic algae on carbon dioxide levels)
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- May 25, 1991
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1991 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Evidence from an algal graveyard has thrown a wrench into investigations of the perplexing climate changes of the last ice age. By extension, those same findings raise important questions about a controversial proposal to combat global warming by seeding the Antarctic Ocean with iron.
A decade ago, scientists discovered that carbon dioxide levels dropped by about 30 percent during the last ice age, thereby lowering Earth's greenhouse effect and helping to keep the planet locked in the deep freeze. To explain such atmospheric alterations, oceanographers suggested that microscopic algae in Antarctic waters proliferated during the ice age, drawing carbon dioxide ...