This session will focus on Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) strategies that aim increase alkalinity along the land-to-ocean aquatic continuum. This includes addition to alkalinity to rivers (river alkalinity enhancement (RAE) or inland water alkalinity enhancement (IWAE) that sit at the intersection of two more established CDR pathways, terrestrial enhanced weathering (ERW) and ocean alkalinity enhancement. RAE/IWAE projects aim to achieve net removal of atmospheric CO₂ through accelerated mineral weathering and increased riverine alkalinity export to long-term ocean storage. but raises a distinct set of scientific and practical questions tied to the hydrology, biogeochemistry, and ecology of flowing and standing inland waters and estuaries.
This session invites contributions spanning the full pipeline from fundamental science to deployment, including:
• Safety and ecological risk thresholds for water quality and freshwater biota (fish, benthic invertebrates, periphyton) under alkalinity dosing,
• Scaling potential and site-selection criteria across river systems, lakes, and reservoirs,
• Cost and feedstock considerations for geochemical CDR at inland-water scale,
• Measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) protocols, including direct field quantification and handling of CO₂ evasion at hydraulically complex sites (steps, falls, riffles),
• Ecological co-benefits, including interactions with freshwater acidification remediation,
• Case studies from active or pilot RAE/IWAE projects,
• Laboratory and mesocosm experiments isolating dissolution kinetics, evasion dynamics, and ecological response,
• Modelling of CDR potential, biogeochemical fate, and downstream/ocean carbon transport, and
• aqueous monitoring of terrestrially derived weathering products from ERW.
We welcome theoretical, observational, experimental, and modelling contributions, and particularly encourage early-career researchers and those working across disciplinary boundaries (hydrology, biogeochemistry, ecotoxicology, engineering).