Bach et al. (2025): Lethal by design? Guiding environmental assessments of ocean alkalinity enhancement toward realistic contextualization of the alkalinity perturbation
Lennart Thomas Bach, Michael Dominik Tyka, Bin Wang and Katja Fennel, IN: CDRXIV, https://doi.org/10.70212/cdrxiv.2025457.v1
Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement (OAE) aims to mitigate climate change by increasing the chemical capacity of seawater to store anthropogenic CO₂. OAE can be implemented through multiple pathways, each of which intentionally modifies marine carbonate chemistry through increases in total alkalinity (TA). Experimental research has only recently begun to assess how such TA perturbations (∆TA) affect ocean geochemical processes and ecosystems. Meaningful assessments need context on how ∆TA induced by different OAE pathways would evolve over time and in magnitude. Here, the authors use a dilution equation, a regional model, and a global model to explore how marine systems and life styles would experience ∆TA under realistic constraints.