13. Marine Climate Engineering

As a means of countering climate change, some scientists have proposed that climate engineering, which is a deliberate action designed to alter the Earth’s climate, could be done. In this chapter an overview is given of the proposed climate engineering methods that involve the direct manipulation of marine systems. This includes methods that enhance the ocean’s natural physical, chemical, and biological CO₂ sequestration pathways, as well as purely technical ones that either use the ocean as a carbon storage reservoir or alter it’s properties to affect the Earth’s radiation budget. Few methods have been thoroughly evaluated and there are still many unknowns, at both the level of basic understanding and as to whether or not it would even be technologically feasible to implement any of them. Research so far has shown that some CE methods do have the potential to alter certain aspects of the climate system. Some have more potential than others and most of them appear to have significant side effects.