Dalhousie University’s Ocean Alk-align research program, which is studying how to make the world’s oceans more alkaline, has received almost $15 million from the Carbon to Sea Initiative.

Katja Fennel, an oceanographer with Dalhousie, will lead a team of international researchers in the five-year study into reversing ocean acidification. Oceans are becoming more acidic, which is reducing their ability to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The Ocean Alk-align program will study how to reverse the acidification of the oceans, with the goal of helping the oceans to capture CO2 and hopefully ease climate change.

“Currently, ocean alkalinity enhancement is not a mature technology and its environmental impacts have not been assessed in the field,” said Fennel in a statement. “Our research consortium will tackle the three most pressing research issues: the efficiency and permanence of CO2 removal, its environmental risks and potential benefits, and the monitoring and verification of CO2 uptake.”

The $15 million grant from the Carbon to Sea Initiative is the largest funding commitment that the program has received to date. Carbon to Sea is a non-profit organization dedicated to funding the study of “Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement”, or finding ways to reduce the acidity of oceans.

“The math is relatively simple – we need to pair emissions reduction with environmentally responsible carbon dioxide removal solutions,” said Antonius Gagern, the executive director of the Carbon to Sea Initiative. “My interest in ocean alkalinity enhancement is rooted in a deep love of the ocean, a recognition that climate change is a catastrophe for marine ecosystems, and the belief that our ocean can be a part of the solution.”

Fennel will coordinate the research efforts between Dal and other ocean research centres, including institutions in Germany and Australia.