May 10, 2007 10:09 AM PDT
Can plankton production address the climate change problem? A crew from a company called Planktos will travel to waters near the Galapagos Islands later this month to create plankton "blooms," or large-scale growth, by seeding the ocean with iron, which stimulates plankton growth. As the plankton grows, it consumes carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, and removes it from the atmosphere.
Planktos is not the first to come up with the idea of capturing or sequestering carbon through plankton blooms. But the Foster City, Calif.-based company appears to be the first trying to commercialize ongoing research on the topic.
The green area in this NASA image shows a plankton bloom in Lake Titicaca in South America.
Photo by NASA
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