Plan Sea: Ocean Interventions to Address Climate Change – Details, episodes & analysis

Carbon to Sea & the American University Institute for Responsible Carbon Removal announce a new collaboration for the second season of “Plan Sea” — a semi-weekly podcast exploring ocean-based climate solutions. Plan Sea will release episodes on a semi-weekly basis throughout Fall 2024, and is hosted by Wil Burns and Anna Madlener.

Plan Sea is a semi-weekly podcast exploring ocean-based climate solutions, brought to you by the Carbon to Sea Initiative & the American University Institute for Responsible Carbon Removal.

Our guests today, Lennart Bach, at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, and Veronica Tamsitt, Head of Oceanography at the mCDR MRV company, Submarine, are two of the authors of a very interesting research article recently published in the journal Global Biogeochemical Cycles, titled “Identifying the Most (Cost-)Efficient Regions for CO2 Removal With Iron Fertilization in the Southern Ocean.” 

Ocean Iron Fertilization (OIF) is really the “OG” of marine-based CDR approaches, with the Ocean Iron Hypothesis being advanced by oceanographer John Martin in the 1980s, and 13 field experiments ensuing over the course of two decades, beginning in 1993, with the last experiment conducted in 2009. 

It’s fair to say that interest in OIF largely fell into abeyance for a protracted period of time. However, recently, largely due to the efforts of researchers at Woods Hole, including Ken Buesseler, who we interviewed on a previous episode, as well as a spate of recent high-profile publications, OIF seems to be front and center again in the discussion of mCDR methods.

In this episode we discuss some of the most pertinent issues to assessing the potential role of OIF in a marine CDR portfolio, including costs, risks, and legal considerations. We hope this interview can do justice to some of the article’s most important conclusions.

Plan Sea is a semi-weekly podcast exploring ocean-based climate solutions, brought to you by the Carbon to Sea Initiative & the American University Institute for Responsible Carbon Removal.

Mike Kelland, CEO and co-founder of Planetary Technologies, an ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE) startup from Canada, joins Plan Sea on this new episode.

Mike, Anna and Wil discuss the basics, science and challenges surrounding ocean alkalinity enhancement — a method whereby the capacity of ocean water to draw down additional CO2 from the atmosphere is increased by increasing the alkalinity of this water.
The better part of this episode focuses on the most recent challenges of Planetary around their community engagement and their first planned pilot site in Cornwall, UK. Mike shares learnings, insights and future outlook on the research needed for OAE to reduce uncertainties.

Some more resources to learn about OAE and Planetary:

Planetary website

Details about the Cornwall pilot

Carbon Removal Newsroom with Will Burt, Head of Ocean Science and Pete Chargin, VP of Commercialization and Community Relations

The Ocean Embassy at the Ocean Visions summit, featuring Will Burt on Monitoring, Reporting and Verification

The Ocean Embassy with Dr. Lennart Bach: What is Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement?

Plan Sea is a semi-weekly podcast exploring ocean-based climate solutions, brought to you by the Carbon to Sea Initiative & the American University Institute for Responsible Carbon Removal.

Our guest, Lisa Levin, is a distinguished professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the lead author of a recent article in the journal Science called "Deep Sea Impacts of Climate Interventions." She explains that most ocean-based carbon removal technologies involve dumping materials and carbon into the ocean floor, which could affect the many different ecosystems of the deep sea. The deep sea is vast and full of biodiversity, which plays a critical role in regulating the planet's climate and maintaining its health. Lisa identifies the risks associated with ocean-based climate interventions, such as changing the light regime and adding particles or nutrients to the ocean, which could have negative consequences for deep-sea ecosystems.

Plan Sea is a semi-weekly podcast exploring ocean-based climate solutions, brought to you by the Carbon to Sea Initiative & the American University Institute for Responsible Carbon Removal.

Matthew Long joins Wil Burns and Anna Madlener to discuss his role at the National Center for Atmospheric Research: Climate and Global Dynamics and the Cworthy project, a non-profit research organization to develop the scientific and technical tools associated with quantifying ocean carbon dioxide removal and leveraging those tools to bolster the monitoring, reporting, and verification of carbon dioxide removal.

Matthew discusses the research that he conducts and the successes and challenges that the research has identified. 

Plan Sea is a semi-weekly podcast exploring ocean-based climate solutions, brought to you by the Carbon to Sea Initiative & the American University Institute for Responsible Carbon Removal.

Philip Boyd joins Wil Burns and Anna Madlener in this episode of the podcast to discuss  a recent publication, "Operational Monitoring of Open-Ocean Carbon Dioxide Removal Deployments: Detection, Attribution, and Determination of Side Effects". Phil discusses the technological and scientific focus areas necessary to enable operational monitoring as highlighted in the paper by him and his co-authors. This includes tools to be used, field implementation, reporting and verification and  three guiding principles they have identified to enable operational monitoring.

Philip Boyd is a professor of Marine Biogeochemistry at the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies at the University of Tasmania.

Plan Sea is a semi-weekly podcast exploring ocean-based climate solutions, brought to you by the Carbon to Sea Initiative & the American University Institute for Responsible Carbon Removal.

Dr. Jessica Cross joins Anna Madlener and Wil Burns on the podcast to discuss the driving and scientifically informed academic, entrepreneurial, and legislative pathways for ocean-based carbon removal approaches.

Jessica is a research oceanographer at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) where she leads the Carbon Dioxide Removal Task Force and manages the Carbon System Observing Research and Development for the Alaska and Pacific Arctic regions. 

Jessica, Anna, and Wil have a great discussion on the successes and challenges they are currently facing in the carbon removal field and three things she would like to see the industry focus on over the next year.

Plan Sea is a semi-weekly podcast exploring ocean-based climate solutions, brought to you by the Carbon to Sea Initiative & the American University Institute for Responsible Carbon Removal.

Dr. Franziska Elmer and John Auckland join Wil Burns and new cohost Anna Madlener on the podcast to discuss the startup Seafields Solutions. 

Seafields uses compressed sargassum bales to function as natural “carbon batteries.” The bales are sunk into the abyssal plain of the ocean, which will local away the CO2 for millennia. 

Franziska and John tell you about their company and their process where they discuss how their company will work towards getting permitting, third-party impact assessments, and navigating the rules of regulation in order to accomplish their goals. 

Seafileds Website: https://www.seafields.eco/ 

Plan Sea is a semi-weekly podcast exploring ocean-based climate solutions, brought to you by the Carbon to Sea Initiative & the American University Institute for Responsible Carbon Removal.

Host Wil Burns and producer, Andrew Lewin, welcome Mowgli Homes to the podcast to discuss the measuring, reporting, and verification (MRV) of carbon sequestration in the future. Mowgli is the CEO of Submarine, which is hoping to help the industry navigate the shoals of MRV in a cost-effective and high-integrity fashion.

Mowgli discusses where the industry is going and how it will address some of the challenges in the future. 

Plan Sea is a semi-weekly podcast exploring ocean-based climate solutions, brought to you by the Carbon to Sea Initiative & the American University Institute for Responsible Carbon Removal.

Arin Crumley and Christian Robinson join Wil Burns and guest host (and producer), Andrew Lewin on the podcast to discuss their business called Pull to Refresh. The idea was borne out of a number of interactions on Clubhouse to help people and businesses reverse the effects of climate change.

Hear more from Arin and Christian on how the business was started and the company's approach to seaweed sequestration.

Pull to Refresh Website: https://pulltorefresh.earth/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/refreshingearth/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/refreshingearth
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/refreshingearth
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pulltorefresh/

Plan Sea is a semi-weekly podcast exploring ocean-based climate solutions, brought to you by the Carbon to Sea Initiative & the American University Institute for Responsible Carbon Removal.