Science is exploring many options for carbon dioxide sequestration in order to mitigate the climatological impact of CO2. One of these is geoengineering: deliberate, large-scale intervention in the Earth's natural systems to counteract climate change. Understanding all of the possible effects of geoengineering, such as the results of iron fertilization on marine ecosystems, is vital. In iron fertilization, which has been discussed as a way to sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, iron is introduced to the surface ocean to stimulate a phytoplankton bloom in locations where iron is the limiting nutrient. Carbon taken up by the phytoplankton is later sequestered in deep sea sediments.
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