Sallie W. Chisholm, Paul G. Falkowski, and John J. Cullen

Many experts fear that global warming, which some believe is caused by an increase in carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere resulting from the burning of fossil fuels, will increase ocean levels and alter weather patterns. Since CO2 is removed from the atmosphere by plants during photosynthesis, some researchers theorize that fertilizing the ocean with iron to increase CO2 consuming marine plants will reduce CO2 levels in the atmosphere. This hypothesis is unproven, claim Sallie W. Chisholm, Paul G. Falkowski, and John J. Cullen in the following viewpoint. In fact, the authors argue, ocean fertilization could permanently and adversely alter the marine ecology by artificially increasing the amount of phytoplankton in the oceans. Chisholm is an engineering professor at the Massachusetts...