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Deep in the jagged red mountains of Oman, geologists are drilling in search of the holy grail of reversing climate change: an efficient and cheap way to remove carbon dioxide from the air and oceans.
They are coring samples from one of the world's only exposed sections of the Earth's mantle to uncover how a spontaneous natural process millions of years ago transformed CO2 into limestone and marble.
[...] Around 13 tons of core samples from four different sites will be sent to the Chikyu, a state-of-the-art research vessel off the coast of Japan, where Keleman and other geologists will analyze them in round-the-clock shifts.
They hope to answer the question of how the rocks managed to capture so much CO2 over the course of 90 million years — and to see if there's a way to speed up the timetable.
Kelemen thinks a drilling operation could cycle carbon-rich water into the newly formed seabed on oceanic ridges far below the surface. Just like in Oman's mountains, the submerged rock would chemically absorb carbon from the water. The water could then be cycled back to the surface to absorb more CO2 from the atmosphere, in a sort of conveyor belt.
The geologists are studying how well the rock core samples from Oman absorb CO2 in the hope they can build a means to sequester captured carbon in the Earth's mantle.
(Score: 2) by caffeine on Saturday April 15 2017, @04:05AM (3 children)
I like the look of solar radiation management like reflective roofs as a fairly low risk, quick intervention.
I'm not sure if it just an Australian trend, but it seems almost every new home here is built with a dark or black roof. We're already climate engineering, just in the wrong direction.
(Score: 1) by pTamok on Saturday April 15 2017, @10:56AM (2 children)
The visible-light colour of a roof doesn't necessarily correlate with its reflectance and emissivity in the infra-Red. What material a roof should be, and whether reflecting IR is a good idea, can vary - it's a bit more complicated than simply assuming white rooves* are good.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflective_surfaces_(geoengineering) [wikipedia.org]
*one hoof, several hooves: one roof, several rooves.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday April 15 2017, @01:14PM
The visible-light colour of a roof doesn't necessarily correlate with its reflectance and emissivity in the infra-Red.
How much sunlight that roof absorbs is the key factor in how much IR it emits. Dark roofs absorb more visual light spectrum which is a large part of solar influx.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 15 2017, @03:18PM
In fact, darker colors tend to be more effective heat emitters. Glossing over the details, its the same reason they are better absorbers of IR.