Analysis Of Matthew Maury 's First Steps

The rising carbon dioxide (CO2) from the burning of fossil fuels and other human activities continues to affect our atmosphere, resulting in global warming and climate change. This carbon dioxide is also altering the chemistry of the oceans, causing them to become more acidic. From scientists and marine resource managers, to policy and decision-makers, there is growing concern that the process called ocean acidification could have drastic consequences on marine ecosystems. Such as altering species composition, disrupting marine food webs and ecosystems and harming fishing, tourism and other human activities connected to the sea.

The ocean is a very delicate ecosystem in which the slightest change of pH or chemical composition will result in devastating results. Between 25 and 40% of anthropogenic carbon emissions have entered the marine area since the industrial age (Sabine et

Ocean Acidification is a process that occurs everyday and majorly affects our planet, but most people don’t even realize it exists. Though it can technically be argued that Ocean Acidification has some benefits for the planet, most of the time the effects of this process are very poor and negatively affect the entire world around us. Human evolution has played a major role in contributing to Ocean Acidification. Whenever humans use energy we release Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere or also known as CO2. This can be in the form of burning fossil fuels from the ground or the removal of national forest by burning. CO2 is a greenhouse gas, which means whenever we can emit it in large quantities or unnatural amounts it can have negative effects on the atmosphere. These high levels of CO2 in the atmosphere result in climate change and more specifically Ocean Acidification. Ocean Acidification occurs when excess Carbon Dioxide is absorbed into the ocean. When this process takes place it can completely disturb the chemical balances of the water. For example, it can reduce pH levels, Biodiversity, and the abundance of calcifying species.

This increase in oceanic inorganic carbon has offset the seawater carbonate chemistry by causing increasing concentrations of CO2 and bicarbonate, while causing decreasing concentrations of carbonate and pH levels (Dedmer 2013). Rost and colleagues (2008) express that emissions of fossil fuel have caused an immense increase in the levels of atmospheric CO2, which are then deposited into the surface water of oceans. This increase in carbonic acid is in turn decreasing the pH balance, which poses a threat to marine organisms.

Especially in the last two hundred years, carbon dioxide has increased in the atmosphere. This is happened in effect of the constant burning of fossil fuels and land use change. In the ocean, carbon dioxide reacts with seawater to form carbonic acid.The ocean actually absorbs thirty percent of all of the carbon dioxide emitted in the atmosphere. When

Humans are changing the climate right now through deforestation and burning fossil fuels which is also creating ocean acidification. Kolbert writes in The Sixth Extinction that, humans are burning an excessive amount of fossil fuels through coal and natural gas into the air which added tons of carbon into the atmosphere. “SINCE the start of the industrial revolution, humans have burned through enough fossil fuels—coal, oil, and natural gas—to add some 365 billion metric tons of carbon to the atmosphere” (Kolbert, p. 113). It is possible to say that through these burning fossil fuels, ocean acidification are occurring, too, because too much carbon dioxide is being released into the atmosphere and the ocean is absorbing the air into the ocean. Kolbert writes, “Thanks to all this extra CO2, the pH of the ocean’s surface waters has already dropped. Assuming that humans continue to burn fossil fuels, the oceans will continue to absorb carbon dioxide and will become increasingly acidified” (Kolbert, p. 113-114). In addition, our emissions of CO2 modify our atmosphere. Whereas, the gases from the atmosphere get absorbed by the ocean and gases dissolved in the ocean are released into the atmosphere killing most of our species. For example, many mollusks, corals, and single-celled creatures called foraminifera use ingredients in seawater to build their shells and other hard parts and these

About half of that man-made CO2 has been absorbed by the oceans, increasing the concentration of carbonic acid, which has caused the oceans to become more acidic. Over the past 300 million years, ocean pH has averaged about 8.2. Today, it is around 8.1, a 25% increase in acidity over the past two centuries. That increase is projected to reach 150% by the end of this century, a rate of change not seen in 65 million years. A more acidic ocean inhibits shell growth in marine animals such as corals, crustaceans and mollusks, and disrupts entire food chains all the

Ocean acidification is where the ocean water becomes more acidic due to the amount of carbon dioxide in the water. Humans use fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas that release large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Oceans absorb about one quarter of the carbon dioxide released each year, and since the amount of carbon dioxide in the water increases, it becomes more acidic (Ocean Acidification, NOAA). More acid in the water means that it will be lower on the pH scale and will release more hydrogen ions. This is in comparison to having more base in the water, where it will be higher on the pH scale and will release more hydroxyl ions. The pH scale rates the concentration of hydrogen in water, and acidic water releases more hydrogen ions than basic water. The scale goes from zero to fourteen, where a pH of seven is neutral, a pH less than seven is acidic, and a pH greater than seven is basic. Oceans have an average pH of 8.16, but that number is predicted to decrease

“How acidification threatens ocean from the inside out: Carbon dioxide emissions are making the oceans more acidic, imperiling the growth and reproduction of species from plankton to squid”, by Marah J. Hardt and Carl Safina addresses the dangers of increasing acidity in the ocean caused by carbon dioxide. Hardt, a research scientist and writer, is the founder of Ocean Ink. Safina, an adjunct professor at Stony Brook University, is the founding president of the Blue Ocean Institute.

Over the past couple of years, no other issue has received more attention in the marine community than ocean acidification. Marine biologists have been constantly working towards solving this issue and are hoping to see improvement’s very soon. Ocean acidification refers to the relentless growth in acidity of the Earth’s oceans. This on-going acidity has attributed to an important element; a constant rise of carbon dioxide levels in the Earth. The number one reason this issue is still happening is because of burning fossil fuels. In addition to burning fossil fuels, it has come to a point where it has enlarged a large amount of carbon dioxide by releasing it into the atmosphere. Chemists have taken this issue into attention that carbon enters the ocean and combines with seawater to fallout acid, which boosts the level of acidity. This process is known as 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.

Ocean Acidification began over 200 years ago when the industrial revolution came along. This caused carbon dioxide levels to rise.

When carbon dioxide enters the ocean, reacts with seawater, producing carbonic acid, which increases the acidity of water.  Increasing carbon dioxide emissions, mainly from burning fossil fuels for energy, have made ocean acidification 30% increase compared to pre-industrial levels. This has caused the pH of surface waters of the oceans has fallen 0.1 units.  If carbon emissions continue to increase at the current

Ocean acidification is the process through which acid is formed due to the burning of fossil fuels in modern industrial society and combined with ocean water. There are unwanted gas like carbon dioxide which are now a days increasing due to human activities emission in to the environment and much of the carbon dioxide is absorbed by the oceans and the combination of carbon dioxide emitted when combined with the ocean water, carbonic acid is formed and this will dissociate to form bicarbonate ions and hydrogen ions reducing the PH of the ocean or changing the ocean water in to acid and this process is called ocean acidification.

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