Major key points: Ocean Acidification
-Riger Revelle in 1956 wanted to conduct exact measurements of the carbon dioxide in the water and in the atmosphere.
-Most scientist though that the carbon dioxide would be taken happily into the water and by plants
-In this experiment they set stations where it would be far from carbon in Hawaii they saw that the carbon levels rose and dropped depending on Northern Hemisphere growing season. At the end the results were higher than they were 12 months ago.
-The results were correct that carbon would end up in the atmosphere but also in the water which was a problem because it rose the acidification of the water
-Scientist have been able to obtain a longer term perspective by examining air bubbles trapped in ice cores, these show that the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide was constant for several thousand years and then began to grow rapidly due to industrialization The gas now is 30 % more abundant and it is expected to double or triple by the end of this century
-The carbon dioxide mostly comes from burning fossil fuels, coal, oil, and natural gas
-Fossil fuel contain radioactive form of carbon :carbon 14 isotope
-The different kinds of isotopes leave distinctive isotopic signature in the atmosphere
-about 40 percent of the carbon in the burning fossil fuels stay in the atmosphere and the rest is taken by plants
-About a third of the carbon dioxide released by the burning fossil fuels will end up in the ocean
-Absorbed carbon dioxide forms carbonic acid in the seawater, lowering the prevailing pH level and changing the balance of carbonate and bicarbonate ions
-The shift toward acidity, and the changes in ocean chemistry that ensue, makes it harder for marine creatures to build parts out of calcium carbonate
-The decline in pH thus threatens a variety of organisms including corals, which provide one of the richest habitats on earth
-Within a century, the surface of the Southern ocean will become corrosive to the shells of tiny snails that form a key link in the marine food chain while this highly productive zone.
-Carbon dioxide form the air combines with water to form carbonic acid. A portion of it persist in the ocean but most of it dissociates into acidifying hydrogen ions along with bicarbonate ions, These chemical changes cause an upward shift in the "saturation horizons" for calcite and agonite water levels deep in the sea below which shells of marine organisms made of these mineral dissolve.
-Larger shifts will be done in the future due to scientific research and will impact the surface but later will impact the full depth of the ocean
-Many coral reefs are in decline and with ocean acidification it might push some over the edge into non existing
-Most scientist though that the carbon dioxide would be taken happily into the water and by plants
-In this experiment they set stations where it would be far from carbon in Hawaii they saw that the carbon levels rose and dropped depending on Northern Hemisphere growing season. At the end the results were higher than they were 12 months ago.
-The results were correct that carbon would end up in the atmosphere but also in the water which was a problem because it rose the acidification of the water
-Scientist have been able to obtain a longer term perspective by examining air bubbles trapped in ice cores, these show that the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide was constant for several thousand years and then began to grow rapidly due to industrialization The gas now is 30 % more abundant and it is expected to double or triple by the end of this century
-The carbon dioxide mostly comes from burning fossil fuels, coal, oil, and natural gas
-Fossil fuel contain radioactive form of carbon :carbon 14 isotope
-The different kinds of isotopes leave distinctive isotopic signature in the atmosphere
-about 40 percent of the carbon in the burning fossil fuels stay in the atmosphere and the rest is taken by plants
-About a third of the carbon dioxide released by the burning fossil fuels will end up in the ocean
-Absorbed carbon dioxide forms carbonic acid in the seawater, lowering the prevailing pH level and changing the balance of carbonate and bicarbonate ions
-The shift toward acidity, and the changes in ocean chemistry that ensue, makes it harder for marine creatures to build parts out of calcium carbonate
-The decline in pH thus threatens a variety of organisms including corals, which provide one of the richest habitats on earth
-Within a century, the surface of the Southern ocean will become corrosive to the shells of tiny snails that form a key link in the marine food chain while this highly productive zone.
-Carbon dioxide form the air combines with water to form carbonic acid. A portion of it persist in the ocean but most of it dissociates into acidifying hydrogen ions along with bicarbonate ions, These chemical changes cause an upward shift in the "saturation horizons" for calcite and agonite water levels deep in the sea below which shells of marine organisms made of these mineral dissolve.
-Larger shifts will be done in the future due to scientific research and will impact the surface but later will impact the full depth of the ocean
-Many coral reefs are in decline and with ocean acidification it might push some over the edge into non existing
Summary :
Signs of ocean acidification have happened in the past but have never been confirmed to be such a big effect until now. A scientist named Riger Revelle in 1956 wanted to conduct the measurements of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and in the water, his measurements showed that there was much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and in the water surface. Before many scientist believed that carbon dioxide would be take into the deep sea and by plants but they experiment conducted proved that much of the carbon dioxide stayed in the atmosphere for a long time. In this experiment they set station where they would be far from vegetation and the spot was Hawaii and in Hawaii they saw that the carbon dioxide levels rose and dropped depending on Northern Hemisphere growing season. This does not look like a large problem but they also realized that the carbon dioxide was higher than it had been 12 months before. Rigers experiment proved to be correct that the carbon would go into the water but it was a bad thing because it caused ocean acidification. To see the rise and the effect of carbon dioxide they set a number of experiments the first one conducted of examining air bubbles trapped in ice cores, which showed that atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide had been constant for thousand of years but not i has rapidly increased. Carbon dioxide comes from different ways which are burning fossil fuels, natural gas, and oil and coal which in the end most of the burning fossil fuel will end up in the water. 40% of the burning fossil fuels will end up in the atmosphere and the rest will be absorbed by plants. The lowering of pH threatens a lot of organisms such as coral which are important because they provide one of the richest habitats in the world, shells which are a key link to marine food chain. The movement toward acidity in the water is not good so we should focus on how much change we have seen because of it.
My reaction:
After reading this article i saw the importance of conserving the ocean and keep it clean an safe. It is shocking how much the oceans pH has lowered and its crazy to think just by this it will affect the whole ecosystem. Even though it might loo like 40 % of burning fossil fuel ends up in the atmosphere is a little bit imagine how much we burn each day which is an awful whole lot. We use so many resources and produce many resources that just hurt the environment that will eventually affect us. Many scientist have conducted experiment with air bubbles that have exposed that much carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for a long time. It scares me to think that in the future the number of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would be tripled by the end of this century. It would be really hard to take out all the carbon dioxide of the atmosphere but i think that conducting more research and causing the less carbon dioxide as possible will help somewhat. Their has been examples such as like in 9/11 where they stop all the airplanes for some time and the temperature dropped such things like that would be important into helping the environment.
So what? Says who? What if...? What does this remind me of?
So what?
-It is important to know about ocean acidification because it affect our system. What I mean by that is that it is very threatening to many different animals and organisms in the ocean such as shells that are a major part of the food chain, and reefs which are also important because they work as homes and help the deep blue sea. What if...? -If it is not addressed the acidity of the ocean would get worst and many animals will die off and our food system would not be very incurable. -If it is helped than many animals would not die and it would be very significant. |
Says who?
Not only have scientist talked about this but also organizations that dedicate their time to make the environment clean. Many different colleges as well have programs which focus on the environment and help students understand the importance of it all. What does this remind you of? This ocean acidification for some reason reminds me of 9/11 when all the airplanes were shut down for one day. It surprised me how much the temperature dropped which brings me to think what would it looked liked if one day nobody goes to work or anything and stays home and doesn't go anywhere how would that affect? |