In a recent paper, Wingenter et al. (2007) discuss the benefits of intermediate-scale iron fertilisation in the Southern Ocean (SO) as a leveraged approach to partially mitigate global warming. They calculate the effect of iron enrichment on dimethylsul-phide (DMS) production in the SO, based on their results from the SOFEX-N iron enrichment study (Wingenter et al., 2004; Turner et al., 2004). They claim that fertilising 2% of the surface of the SO for 1 month each year would lead to an enhancement of the sulphur cycle, an increase of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and hence a higher albedo, through the mechanisms suggested by the CLAW hypothesis (Charlson et al., 1987). They calculate that such limited iron enrichment can lead to a ~2 ℃ cooling of the atmosphere over the SO.
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