Most scientists believe the earth is warming, partly because of carbon dioxide from sources such as coal-fired
power plants and automobiles. A new study shows the heat-trapping gas could be pumped into deep-sea sediment. The
GLRC’s Christina Shockley reports:
Transcript
Most scientists belive the earth is warming, partly because of carbon dioxide from sources such as coal-fired
power plants and automobiles. A new study shows the heat-trapping gas could be
pumped into deep-sea sediment. The GLRC’s Christina Shockley reports:
Right now, carbon dioxide is usually just released into the atmosphere. One solution
could be pumping it into the ground, but it might leak back out.
Dan Schrag is a professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University. He co-
authored a study that shows carbon dioxide pumped into sediment in the sea floor
wouldn’t come back up:
“It’s a very high pressure because of the weight of the overlying water, but very low
temperature. And as a result, the carbon dioxide sits not as a gas, but as a dense liquid.
It’s in fact denser than the sea water and so it wants to sink, not rise.”
Schrag says the carbon dioxide would be stable under the water for millions of years. He
says this is one option of many that need to be considered.
Schrag says the technology exists to get the gas underground, but cost could be a major
hurdle.
For the GLRC, I’m Christina Shockley.