Pros And Cons Of Ocean Acidification

Ocean Acidification is affecting our life more than we ever thought it would be able to. When people first think about oceans, they don’t see the diversity of life that is in there or how much we depend on those organisms and the ocean itself. We only see this ginormous body of water, where some feel like it’s not a big deal if anything happens to it. Ocean acidification (as defined by NOAA) is “ongoing decrease in the pH of the Earth’s oceans, cause by the uptake of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, this then creates an acid”. Each year the ocean absorbs at least 25-30% of all CO2 from human activity. This can be a huge threat to the diversity of the ocean and the benefits it provides to society. The rate continues to go up, more so than anyone would have thought it would and as these continue to raise the risks we are facing could be bigger than we thought and we could soon be facing a mass extinction.

Since industrialization, the pH of ocean surface water has decreased 0.1 units, resulting to a 30 percent increase in acidity. Under the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) emission scenarios, the pH of seawater will approximately decline by 0.3-0.4 units in the year 2100, reaching a pH in the range of 7.76-7.86 units, therefore the oceans and any other source of water are on the verge of becoming slightly acidic which could result to many biological complications. Ocean acidification occurs in multiple steps but revolves around hydro carbons and their process of life in the ocean. For instance increasing the amount of carbon dioxide concentrations in oceans accelerates the diffusion of terrestrial rocks. As a result, calcium and carbonate are released into the ocean and, in recent studies, these conditions release counteracted

This lab closely looks into the current cause of ocean acidification on actual marine organisms, specifically rice coral and sea urchin skeleton. The lab also proves how the two organisms are starting to deteriorate and change as carbon dioxide levels emit into the ocean and alter the ocean’s chemistry. The lab specifically compares the issue by monitoring the pH level, the general hardness level of calcium, and the carbonate hardness level. It is with this lab that proves how the pH level, the general hardness level of calcium, and the carbonate hardness levels in the ocean water are negatively affected by climate change factors that cause ocean acidification. This results in harming marine organisms such as rice coral and sea urchin skeleton.

Many people around the world have brought awareness to ocean acidification. New ideas have emerged and some have already been put into effect. One suggestion

ocean’s eco-system that we wouldn’t be forced to adjust to prosper in a safe and effective way of survival. An organization once stated that, “the air that you breathe, the water you drink, the food you eat, the products that keep you warm, safe, informed, and entertained — all can come from or be transported by the ocean, you hurt it is, its just going to hurt you back,” (Protect Plant Ocean). That quote relates back to this, ocean acidification is a socio- ecological system that will have to carry out the repercussions of being universal, evidently supported and complex. It is a wicked problem that will be hard to turn around and what our society is doing is we are learning how to deal with the effects by having the ability to survive without

The world we live in is so vast and exciting. Seventy percent of our world is liquid water we call the ocean. In the ocean there are many creatures that each are unique in their own way. However, it is possible that in our lifetime, many marine organisms will become endangered or possibly extinct. The loss of these mejestic marine creatures will be caused mainly because of human advancements in which fossil fuels are used to produce energy. Biodiversity is greatly affected by this increase in acidity. As the ocean acidifies, multiple social and economic issues arise. As humans, we rely on the ocean for almost everything. Much of our food, clothing, cleaning products and cosmetics come from the ocean. With the loss of

Our ocean is made of many beautiful, aquatic marine animals. Us, as humans, are creating many of the problems within the ocean. Aquatic sea creatures are dying because of our lack of interest in the ecosystem. Ocean Acidification is important to many marine biologists, and we should support and help our ecosystem as God has supported and helped us.

Tetrapods and corals are especially sensitive to changes in pH because their shells are made up of calcium carbonate which, as water acidification rises, becomes more sparse. The deeper portions of the sea are “undersaturated” with the calcium carbonate whereas the upper portions are “supersaturated”, but the acidification of the ocean has caused that saturation horizon to shift further up. These “shell-friendly” parts of the ocean are receding more and more by the year, and if the oceans acidification keeps increasing, these shell fish will soon be extremely endangered, thus disrupting the ecosystem.

Ocean acidification is happening throughout the oceans at this very moment. Ever since the start of the Industrial Revolution, excess amounts of carbon dioxide have been released to the atmosphere. The ocean absorbs around a quarter of the carbon dioxide released every year, so as the amount of CO2 increases in the air, so does the amount of CO2 in the ocean. Scientists, at first thought this was beneficial to the environment as the ocean was removing greenhouse gas from the atmosphere; however, it slowly changed the chemistry of the oceans. The increase of carbon dioxide in the oceans led them to become more acidic, which affected the marine ecosystems. The PMEL Carbon Program monitored the oceans for three decades and they recently revealed how carbon dioxide affected the coral reef systems in the North Pacific

The world’s oceans are currently under threat from several human impacts. On local scales, overfishing, deforestation and pollution from land can negatively affect marine ecosystems. On larger scales, global change and associated alterations in ocean circulation, increases in temperature and increases in storm intensity and frequency are all known to impact ocean life. One of the newest and perhaps most significant threats to marine ecosystems is Ocean Acidification (OA). OA refers to the continual rise in acidic

Currently, the ocean pH dropped by 0.1 from preindustrial times which represents a 25% increase in ocean acidity. (“Ocean Acidification.” National Geographic). As more research is being conducted, scientists are addressing the impacts of ocean acidification. Acidic pH will cause a cascade in the marine food chain impacting ocean species to various degrees. The ocean pH is predicted to continue decreasing (figure below). Therefore, it is important to focus on this target and take action.

Research has shown that the ocean’s balance is being ruined by a rapid drop in pH that will have destructive global results in the future. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/oceans/critical-issues-ocean-acidification/

Labeled as one of the top environmental issues today, ocean acidification has been found to be linked to a decrease in ocean pH levels, negative impacts on calcifying species of marine organisms, and the rise in temperature of the ocean. Furthermore, ocean acidification occurs when the carbon dioxide found naturally within the environment, as well as anthropogenically released, is absorbed into the ocean and then chemically reacts to the saltwater to create carbonic acid (H2CO3) which also leads to a decrease in carbonate ions. Learning more, it has been found that approximately 30% of the carbon dioxide that is released into the atmosphere is absorbed by the ocean and as more carbon dioxide is released by anthropogenic sources, such as burning of fossil fuels and industrial activities, the levels of carbon dioxide found absorbed within the ocean increases(NOAA, 2012). In the ocean, carbonate ions and calcium carbonate minerals are found to be the building blocks for an exoskeleton for most marine organisms and with a lack of these ions the marine life will begin to literally deteriorate. For example, shells of mollusks such as snails, clams, and oysters all have three basic layers that comprise of calcium carbonate and then approximately 2% of protein is left (Horne, n.d.). With the decrease of carbonate ions and an increase in hydrogen ions that have nothing to bond to, the shells will deteriorate and lead to more energy being spent on creating new shells (Ocean

Ocean acidification is the process of the ocean becoming more acidic, or dropping on the pH scale. Another name for this process is ocean de-basification because seawater is actually a basic substance, so the “acidification” is seawater dropping to a more neutral pH. Despite what you call it, it is agreed that this activity results in negative consequences for both our environment as well as the creatures in it. This paper will be looking at the causes of ocean acidification, the effects of it, and what society can do in an attempt to stop it.

Global warming has caused the increase in the acidification of the ocean. The acidification of the ocean has threatened the survival of many marine animals that are essential to the success of the ecosystem. Ocean acidification is the harmful consequence of the overabundance of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that we can’t detect with our five senses, this is possible because its effects are happening undersea. The sources of most carbon dioxide emissions is through the burning of coal , and gas. When carbon dioxide dissolves in seawater, the water becomes more acidic and the ocean’s pH value drops immensely. An example of the effect of ocean acidification on marine species is that of the shells of crustaceans, mussels and many others. These important animals shells are dissolving due to the