(Description) Figure 6 (a) German research vessel and icebreaker Polarstern off the Antarctic Peninsula in February 1994. The Polarstern was used for ocean fertilisation experiments such as the European Iron Fertilization Experiment and LOHAFEX. (b) Satellite image taken by NASA in August 2012 after media reports of a large-scale ocean iron fertilisation project in the northern Pacific Ocean. (c) Change in a measure of chlorophyll concentration, in milligrams per cubic metre, relative to the 10-year August mean, measured in August 2012 by NASA over approximately the same region as (b).

Could we control our climate?

Figure 6a is a photograph that shows a German research vessel and icebreaker Polarstern off the Antarctic Peninsula in February 1994. The Polarstern was used for ocean fertilisation experiments such as EIFEX and LOHAFEX.

Figure 6b shows a satellite image of the northern Pacific ocean, with an arc of bright cyan (labelled iron fertilisation bloom?) across the middle of the image, across a darker blue or green background for the rest of the scene; the date August 12 2012 is shown.

Figure 6c is a colour coded image of the same region and time as figure 6b (north Pacific) and shows 'Chlorophyll' concentration anomalies. Most of the scene has anomalies in the range (-1.6 - +1.6) milligrams per meter cubed; there are small patches in the top-right and bottom left showing increases as high as over 4 milligrams per meter cubed.