Scientists in southern England are working on a new way to fight climate change by pulling carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the ocean.
The project, called SeaCURE, is funded by the UK government and is currently being tested on England’s south coast. The idea is to help the Earth by making the ocean better at absorbing carbon from the air.
The ocean naturally takes in about a quarter of the CO2 we release into the atmosphere. By removing some of the carbon already stored in the ocean, scientists make more room for the ocean to absorb even more from the air. This helps reduce the amount of greenhouse gases that cause the Earth to warm up.
The process works like this: seawater is treated in a big tank to make it more acidic, which turns the carbon in the water into a gas. This gas is then captured through pipes and stored safely. After that, the seawater is balanced again with a special substance and sent back into the ocean, ready to soak up more carbon.
Right now, SeaCURE removes about 100 tonnes of carbon a year, but the team hopes this is just the beginning. Dr. Paul Halloran, who leads the project, says that seawater holds about 150 times more carbon than the air, but the process does use a lot of energy.
Energy Minister Kerry McCarthy praised the project, saying that new ideas like SeaCURE are important for reaching “net zero,” which means no extra greenhouse gases are added to the atmosphere.
However, scientists are also studying how this might affect sea creatures. Guy Hooper, a student at Exeter University, explained that marine life like mussels and tiny plants called phytoplankton need carbon to survive. He says the team is working on ways to make sure the project doesn’t harm these important ocean creatures.
