
Recall the carbon cycle: The key to this issue is waiting long enough for the CO2 in the atmosphere to reach equilibrium with the CO2 in the ocean, at which point a significant quantity of CO2 will have been "removed" from the atmosphere - the problem is time. As my daughter likes to say on our road trips "it is taking too long!" That is the case here. We can not afford to wait. However, the good news is that the ocean offers significant CO2 storage capabilities (for long-term timelines).
There are 3 approaches to this process:
Fertilize the ocean
Remember how crude oil is formed? If there were more "bugs" in the ocean (phytoplankton) then as they grow and reproduce they will absorb CO2 (remember this is photosynthesis)! They will die and decay but providing there are more of them and they are self-replicating (whatever the outcome of plankton sex is) then there will be more carbon in the ocean and less CO2 in the atmosphere. This is a carbon sink (more on this later). The ocean "bugs" can also grow shells, which they obtain from the dissolved minerals in the ocean and dissolved carbon dioxide. "She sells sea shells on the sea shore!" Try saying that 4 times as quickly as you can. So the shells can also capture CO2 for long periods of time.

Inject CO2 into the ocean to form hydrates
Check out the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute) for more information about this topic.


Inject CO2 to the bottom of the ocean to form a CO2 lake (underwater).
If you are a visual learner and would like to see liquid CO2 fill a beaker underwater (considerable depth): click on the image below to download and watch a short video.
But there is a lot of concern about perturbing the ocean so this is not a very likely solution.