K.D. Nelson Lecture Series – Dr. Mallory Ringham

The Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences presents the K.D. Nelson Lecture Series featuring speaker Mallory Ringham. Her talk is titled: Early observations in ocean alkalinity enhancement for marine carbon dioxide removal. 

The 2021 IPCC report indicated a need for removal of 5.5 GT CO₂ per year by 2100 to limit global warming to 1.5C. Ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE) has the potential to develop into large-scale atmospheric carbon dioxide removal (CDR), but research is needed on all levels to optimize the safety, efficiency, and practicality of moving from the laboratory to field deployments. One electrochemical approach to OAE separates acid and base streams from seawater or brine, then returns NaOH to the ocean as an alkalinity source. In this seminar, Ringham will discuss a series of current and upcoming laboratory and field experiments investigating CO₂ uptake and storage from this process, as well as challenges in monitoring and modeling CDR signals in the ocean.