tagged w/ ocean acidification
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Most people know that the release of carbon dioxide into the air from human sources has contributed to rising global temperatures and massive increases in the rate of melting of the ice at the poles and on Greenland. One of the major consequences they may not know about is the acidification of the oceans.
The chemistry is quite straightforward. It's the same process that occurs when bottled water is carbonated. Most of the carbon dioxide simply dissolves in the water. But some of it reacts with the water to form carbonic acid. And, that's what's happening in the world's oceans as humans release more and more carbon dioxide into the air.
Climate change deniers love to dispute climate modeling, to talk about short-term weather phenomena, and to pick on minor citation errors in official reports. But, they don't like to talk about ocean acidification for three interrelated reasons. First, humans have indisputably been dumping exponentially increasing amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere from the beginning of the industrial revolution, primarily through the burning of fossil fuels. Second, the oceans have absorbed about one-third of this carbon dioxide which then forms carbonic acid. This reduces the pH of the water in an acidic direction. Third, scientists have documented through direct observation the changes in ocean species, both large and microscopic, that have resulted from this increased acidity.
What the scientists are finding is troubling. First, the entire food chain of the ocean could be short-circuited. Second, ocean acidification in combination with other human impacts on the ocean could result in mass extinctions. Third, no one knows how such changes might affect life on land which is by no means isolated from the ocean.
Among those who accept the science of climate change, there are some who believe we can engineer our way out of the problem. One proposal calls for putting small reflective particles into the atmosphere to block a portion of the sunlight falling on the earth. But a recent study revealed that this would have little or no effect on the continuing acidification of the oceans.
Even though 1) the mechanism for ocean acidification is well-established, 2) the source of the excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and consequently in the ocean is traceable to man-made causes, and 3) the effects are already being observed--they are no mere projections--the climate change deniers will no doubt tell us that ocean acidification is nothing to worry about. Of course, we must remember that they are in the pay of or under the influence of propaganda put out by the fossil fuel interests, interests that spend millions on disinformation and zero on ocean research.
These same climate change deniers insure their houses against fire, their cars against accident and their bodies against illness. But they want us to play Russian roulette with the oceans and the climate. They cannot possibly know how the future will turn out. But even if climate change were not an issue, the peril associated with the acidification of the oceans by itself would justify immediate and drastic action to curb carbon dioxide emissions.
It is hard to imagine a case weaker than that made by the deniers against the science of human-caused global climate change. But there is one, the nonexistent case against the reality of human-caused ocean acidification. So, it's no wonder the climate change deniers don't want to talk about it.Most people know that the release of carbon dioxide into the air from human sources... more
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The rate at which the oceans are becoming more acidic is greater today than at any time in tens of millions of years, according to a new study.
Rapidly rising concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere mean that the rate of ocean acidification is the fastest since the age of the dinosaurs, which became extinct 65m years ago, scientists believe.
The oceans are likely to become so acidic in coming centuries that they will become uninhabitable for vast swathes of life, especially the little-studied organisms on the deep-sea floor which are a vital link in the marine food chain.
Scientists have concluded, in a study published today in the journal Nature Genetics, that the current rate of ocean acidification is up to 10 times faster than 55m years ago – the last time the deep oceans became so acidic.
This is because of the speed at which carbon-dioxide concentrations are rising in the atmosphere. This carbon dioxide dissolves in seawater at the sea surface to form carbonic acid. The increased acidity of the water affects the amount of dissolved carbonate minerals that are available for marine organisms to use in forming their shells and hard skeletons.
When the oceans became acidified in a similar way about 55m years ago, it resulted in a mass extinction of deep-sea marine organisms, especially those living in the sediments of the sea floor, which can be studied geologically through changes to rock formations, said Dr Andy Ridgwell of the University of Bristol.
"Unlike surface plankton dwelling in a variable habitat, organisms living deep down on the ocean floor are adapted to much more stable conditions. A rapid and severe geochemical change in their environment would make their survival precarious," he said.
Studies also suggest that temperatures of the surface ocean rose, and carbon-dioxide levels increased over a period of a few thousand years.
The latest study compared these changes with predicted changes to ocean acidity resulting from continuing increases in concentrations of man-made carbon dioxide expected this century.The rate at which the oceans are becoming more acidic is greater today than at any... more
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According to the Charles Darwin Foundation's Stuart Banks, one in five of the 43 threatened Galapagos marine species may already be extinct.
In a landmark article published today by respected science journal, Global Change Biology, Stuart Banks, Senior Marine Scientist with the Charles Darwin Foundation (CDF), headquartered in Galapagos, teams with the world´s leading marine researchers in calling for increased focus on the forces of climate change.
Banks asserts that:
"Galapagos is well-known for being unique, but what is less apparent is how tenuous the archipelago's unique status really is." He reveals that of the 43 threatened Galapagos marine species, one in five may already be extinct.
The article provides an in-depth analysis of major studies charting changes in Galapagos biodiversity and marine ecosystems over the past 30 years. Former CDF Marine Sciences Director and ongoing CDF collaborator Graham Edgar of the University of Tasmania led the development of the paper bringing together such luminaries as Sylvia Earle; National Geographic Society, and Peter Glynn, University of Miami, Les Kaufmann, Boston University, and CDF´s Stuart Banks.
In a sobering snapshot, Banks explains that:
"The unpredictable mix of El Niño, increased human presence, and global climate change is a recipe for the breakdown of natural ecological functions with serious impact on the recovery potential of species and habitats."
The article cites the Galapagos Marine Reserve as being "a near ideal environment for quantifying effects of oceanographic anomalies and fisheries on marine biodiversity, and for modeling future impacts of climate change," areas of study currently being addressed by CDF's Galapagos Climate Change Initiative.
This major new body of investigation takes a much-needed step in understanding the ties between climate, biodiversity, and the human impact, and will combine new and historical data to increase understanding of these relationships.
http://www.savegalapagos.org/news/mockngbirds/
REPORT: Wildlife of Galapagos Islands 'devastated by ocean warming'
Ocean warming and human activity have devastated the coastal wildlife of the Galapagos Islands, say scientists.
Several species of marine plants and animals are believed to have become extinct and many others are seriously threatened, a new report reveals. Researchers blame the impact of rising ocean temperatures coupled with fishing and tourism.
Once abundant coral reefs and kelp beds had been wiped out in just a few decades, said the scientists from US-based Conservation International. Species that were previously plentiful such as the Galapagos black-spotted damselfish, the 24-rayed sunstar and the Galapagos stringweed were now thought to have vanished. Dozens of others, including the Galapagos penguin, were within ''a hairsbreadth of annihilation''.
Based on criteria laid down by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List, two species were ''probably'' extinct, another seven ''possibly'' extinct, and a further 36 ''vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered''. Over-fishing had led to an expansion of sea urchin populations, which in turn had upset the delicate web of marine life in the islands, said the scientists.
The researchers warned the Galapagos was a ''canary in a coalmine'' indicating what the world could expect from global warming.
http://www.savegalapagos.org/news/charles-darwin-foundation/According to the Charles Darwin Foundation's Stuart Banks, one in five of the 43... more
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Acidification of the oceans is a major threat to marine life and humanity's food supply, Hilary Benn has warned as the UN climate summit resumes.
The UK environment secretary said that acidification provided a "powerful incentive" to cut carbon emissions.
Ocean chemistry is changing because water absorbs extra CO2 from the air.
Some believe this impact of rising CO2 levels could be as significant as climatic change, though it is rarely discussed at the UN climate convention.
The science has come to prominence only within the last five or six years, and most of the details were not available when the convention was signed in 1992.
"We know that the increasing concentration of CO2 [in the air] is making the oceans more acidic," Mr Benn told BBC News.
"It affects marine life, it affects coral, and that in turn could affect the amount of fish in the sea - and a billion people in the world depend on fish for their principal source of protein.
"It doesn't get as much attention as the other problems; it is really important."
In September, the UN-backed study into The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (Teeb) concluded that the widely-endorsed target of trying to stabilise atmospheric concentrations of CO2 or their equivalent to around 450 parts per million (ppm) would prove lethal to much of the world's coral.
Mr Benn made his speech during the summit's "oceans day" at a meeting organised by Stanford University and Scripps Institution of Oceanography, both based in California.
"Unlike global warming, which can manifest itself in nuanced, complex ways, the science of ocean acidification is unambiguous," said Andrew Dickson, a Scripps professor of marine chemistry.
"The chemical reactions that take place as increasing amounts of carbon dioxide are introduced to seawater have been established for nearly a century."Acidification of the oceans is a major threat to marine life and humanity's food... more
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The world's oceans are becoming acidic at a faster rate than at any time in the last 55m years, threatening disaster for marine life and food supplies across the globe, delegates at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen have been warned.
A report by more than 100 of Europe's leading marine scientists, released at the climate talks this morning, states that the seas are absorbing dangerous levels of carbon dioxide as a direct result of human activity. This is already affecting marine species, for example by interfering with whale navigation and depleting planktonic species at the base of the food chain.
The report, published by the EU-funded European Project on Ocean Acidification, a consortium of 27 research institutes and environment agencies, states that the survival of a number of marine species is affected or threatened, in ways not recognised and understood until now. These species include:
- whales and dolphins, who will find it harder to navigate and communicate as the seas become "noisier". Sound travels further as acidity increases. Noise from drilling, naval sonar and boat engines is already travelling up to 10% further under water and could travel up to 70% further by 2050.
- brittle stars (Ophiothrix fragilis) produce fewer larvae because they need to expend more energy maintaining their skeletons in more acid seas. These larvae are a key food source for herring.
- tiny algae such as Calcidiscus leptoporus which form the basis of the marine food chain for fish such as salmon may be unable to survive.
- young clownfish will lose their ability to "smell" the anemone species that they shelter in. Experiments show that acidification interferes with the species' ability to detect the chemicals that give "olfactory cues".
The report predicts that the north Atlantic, north Pacific and Arctic seas – a crucial summer feeding ground for whales - will see the greatest degree of acidification. It says that levels of aragonite, the type of calcium carbonate which is essential for marine organisms to make their skeletons and shells, will fall worldwide. But because cold water absorbs CO2 more quickly, the study predicts that levels of aragonite will fall by 60% to 80% by 2095 across the northern hemisphere.The world's oceans are becoming acidic at a faster rate than at any time in the... more
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Forget “climategate” and arguments over whether the Earth is really warming. If you need a simple, non-controversial scientific reason to support curtailing greenhouse gas emissions, stop looking skyward and look at the pH of the oceans.
At least that’s the argument Jeffrey Short made Tuesday at the global climate change summit in Copenhagen. Dr. Short, the Pacific science director for Oceana, an environmental group working to protect the world’s oceans, says that regardless of the impact on climate, the billions of tons of carbon-dioxide (CO2) that human activity pumps out every year is making oceans more acidic.
That’s threatening fisheries that millions rely on for food and livelihoods. Already some shellfish, from commercially important crabs, clams, and mussels to tiny creatures called pteropods (dubbed the “potato chips of the ocean” for the important rung they occupy near the bottom of the marine food chain), are showing the effects of ocean acidification. Coral reefs, important nurseries for commercial fish species, are also being threatened.
The damage to the oceans should be enough on its own to push policy makers to sign a global agreement to reduce CO2 emissions, “even if carbon dioxide didn’t do anything to warm the atmosphere,” says Short, who spent more than 30 years as a marine scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) before entering the policy arena.
Read more in article: http://features.csmonitor.com/globalnews/2009/12/09/new-climate-change-signal-oceans-turning-acidic/Forget “climategate” and arguments over whether the Earth is really... more
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- Tipping points will be difficult to identify
Is the Earth’s climate approaching a critical transition, aka a “tipping point,” beyond which major and largely unpredictable climate changes are guaranteed to occur? At this point, scientists do not know the answer to that question. A study published in the journal Nature aims to explain the mathematics of critical transitions beyond just the Earth’s climate and in the process, determine if there are early-warning signals that indicate when a complex system is about to undergo a critical transition.
- U.S. Chamber of Commerce President complains about environmentalists
Over the last several weeks, three utilities, Nike, and now Apple have resigned from or otherwise reduced their participation in the United States Chamber of Commerce (USCOC), a business lobbying group that represents millions of U.S. businesses. As a result, the USCOC President and CEO, Tom Donohue, held an hour-long press conference to defend the USCOC’s decision to oppose EPA regulation of greenhouse gases (GHGs).
According to the Greenwire report on the event (linked above), Donahue claimed that an “orchestrated pressure campaign” by environmentalists was responsible for the recent defections.
- Barrels instead of bottles
According to the NYTimes Green Inc. blog, a number of wineries are foregoing bottles and are instead shipping their wine in barrels. As a result, the wineries are saving money on reduced packaging and are dramatically lowering their carbon footprint due to shipping and bottle manufacturing.
- Ocean acidification to turn parts of the Arctic Ocean corrosive by 2018
Scientists researching ocean acidification in the Svalbard Archipelago north of Norway have made a surprising and awful discovery – the Arctic ocean is acidifying so fast that 10% it will become corrosive within the next 10 years and the entire Arctic will become corrosive by 2100.
- El Niño and its relationship to ocean heat content
Back in October, 2008, I pointed out in comments to another Carboholic that La Niña years were cold because the ocean absorbed heat from the atmosphere and that El Niño years were hot because the ocean emitted stored heat back into the atmosphere. This comes from the physics of thermodynamics, specifically the fact that energy moves from hot areas to cold areas, and not the other way around.
I recently came across this same basic information presented in a different form by the Climate Prediction Center’s El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion page and the weekly ENSO updates contained therein.
More at the link.- Tipping points will be difficult to identify
Is the Earth’s climate... more
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What would life be like for other life forms on this planet if there really were no more fish in the sea? This is not science fiction: human-caused ocean acidification is already making its effects known. Sometimes known as the "wet underbelly" or "evil twin" of climate change, ocean acidification is caused by excess carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels dissolving in sea water. The ocean becomes more acidic, making it difficult for tiny creatures at the bottom of the food web to form their shells. The effects could work their way up to the fishes that one billion people depend upon for their source of protein and livelihood.What would life be like for other life forms on this planet if there really were no... more
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Can you imagine oceans that have been emptied of all fish? What would life be like for other life forms on this planet if there really were no more fish in the sea? This is not science fiction: human-caused ocean acidification is already making its effects known. Sometimes known as the "wet underbelly" or "evil twin" of climate change, ocean acidification is caused by excess carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels dissolving in sea water.Can you imagine oceans that have been emptied of all fish? What would life be like for... more
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We have all probably heard of Carbon Sequestration by now as it is the method most often connected with efforts by the coal industry to stay relevant in a green energy economy. As I said last night in my post on methane hydrate, carbon sequestration may prove to be necessary in the long run in order to deal with the release of methane from thawing permafrost areas.
With that in mind I thought I would provide this resource for people who would like to learn more about it. The storage method within the umbrella of sequestration that I find the most interesting is where the CO2 is pumped underground into deep saline deposits.
Salt water can hold a great deal of carbon dioxide because when seawater absorbs CO2 chemical reactions occur. According to wikipedia; "When CO2 dissolves, it reacts with water to form a balance of ionic and non-ionic chemical species : dissolved free carbon dioxide (CO2 (aq)), carbonic acid (H2CO3), bicarbonate (HCO3-) and carbonate (CO32-).
This is already happening in the world's oceans with negative consequences for marine life. But what will be the consequences (if any) of pumping the CO2 into underground saline deposits where the same process will take place? I think it is important to thoroughly understand all of our options before we commit to a specific pathway for our future.
For more info on ocean acidification see: http://www.ocean-acidification.net/We have all probably heard of Carbon Sequestration by now as it is the method most... more
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