Ocean Acidification: The Negative Effects Of CO2 In The Ocean

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 is likely the most important environmental issue on the planet today, yet most of us don’t know about it. It’s time to change the conversation. Raise your voice and get this message heard! Everyone needs to know about ocean acidification and the threat to ocean life. Environmental organizations, governments, the media, and all of us need to make ocean acidification part of the environmental conversation. Up until now, we’ve been missing a huge part of the puzzle.

Ocean acidification is the constant increase of acidity in the Earth’s oceans, caused by the unceasingly rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Anthropogenic CO2 is mainly emitted by the burning of fossil fuels, including coal, oil, and natural gas. Since the

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

For many years people have thought that ocean acidification is really not that serious of an issue to our climate. They have claimed that releasing CO2 into the atmosphere is harmless and cannot acidify the ocean. However, scientists have refuted this claim and state that ocean acidification threatens the entire marine ecosystem.

Our oceans absorb almost twenty-five percent, each year, of all the carbon dioxide that human activity emits into the air. Scientists originally believed that the idea of our oceans absorbing extra carbon dioxide that is in the air was a positive idea, because it would deter global warming. But, they soon came to the realization that this absorption process was having similarly disastrous effects, as global warming does, and it what happening to our oceans. This phenomenon, of our oceans taking in the excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, leads to ocean acidification; a term used to describe how our oceans are becoming increasingly more acidic over time. However, just in the past 200 years, ocean acidification has increased by thirty percent, and this number will only continue to increase due to our current rate of industrialization.

Scientists have known of this problem, but did not know the effects acidity had on marine life and ecosystems. Ocean acidification is causing reduced growth of coral reefs, is damaging the food chains of the ocean, and creating dead zones. Corals cannot absorb the calcium carbonate needed to maintain their skeleton structure. The chemistry behind this is becoming a reality. The decrease in the pH is upsetting the chemical balance of salt water when it comes to calcium carbonate, which is the chemical reefs use to build their coral. This reduces the carbonate ion concentration and makes it much more difficult for corals to maintain structure, let alone build it (EarthTimes, 2011). However, there is some good news to this, says Adina Payten, who is a research professor from the Institute of Marine Sciences. “There are some species of corals that can calcify and grow in environment with very low pH values.” On the flip side, these are not the corals that build the foundation for the coral reefs to grow. If the coral reef conditions continue to worsen, the coral reefs will never be as we know them today. Eventually there could be no coral reefs at all if something is not done to prevent the deterioration of the most beautiful parts of our

Ocean acidification is probably the main issue on Earth because it affects the entire planet. We’re blowing all this Carbone Dioxide into the atmosphere that enters into the Ocean and changes the seawater chemistry. I am pretty sure that is we continue on this track many species which lives in the ocean will one day, disappear. Twenty one percent of the air in our atmosphere is oxygen which animal need to survive. At least half of our oxygen comes from phytoplankton in the ocean. We can turn this around, we have the ability on our hand and we are not doing anything. In a hundred years, this planet can be gone. Most of the previous

Ocean Acidification is the ongoing decrease pH of the Earth's ocean, caused by the uptake of Carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere.

The ecosystem is a complex suite of interactions among organisms and between organisms and their physical environment (National Research Council 59). Ocean acidification affects not only phytoplankton, which is the base of marine food webs, but also ecosystem engineers, which create or modify habitats, such as corals, oysters, and seagrasses. The acidification may decrease reef growth by reducing calcification rates, reproduction, and recruitment. Also, it may increase the dissolution or erosion of existing reef structures (National Research Council 62). Coral reef ecosystem has served as a habitat for many marine species, so it is not difficult to understand that the resilience or loss of coral reef habitat may adversely affect marine biodiversity in short and the long term. In addition, marine ecosystems provide humans with a broad range of goods and services, including seafood and natural products. Oceans provide enough food to feed the worldwide population (National Research Council 83) A dead ecosystem would result in losing our principal food source. Also, it provides recreational opportunities like beach use and scuba diving to view ocean life. These recreational activities promote and help to develop tourism, so it will affect the economy as

Due to the ocean’s continued absorption of carbon dioxide, it continues to acidify. This acidification is having a notable effect on the oceanic ecosystem, most notably in the phytoplankton. In fact, the continued acidification is a direct result of the drop in plankton population.

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.

“Threatening Ocean Life from The Inside Out” by M. Hardt & C. Safina is about the impacts of ocean acidification on marine life as subsequently human life as well. Ocean acidification refers to a reduction in the pH of the ocean over an extended period time, caused primarily by uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. The water is becoming more acidic and negatively effecting marine life. The acidity affects coral and animals like clams and muscles having trouble building their skeletons and shells. It is also impacting the sperm count and the reproductive ability of male animals in the ocean. The oceans’ pH today is 8.1, which is mildly basic, but the conditions we are in right now shows a declining trend. The atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration is almost 390 parts per million (ppm), but it would be even higher if the oceans didn’t soak up 30 million tons of the gas every day (Hardt and Safina, 68). It

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that we exhale in our daily lives. Plants use carbon dioxide to create oxygen that all mammals use. However, carbon dioxide can also change the chemistry of the ocean, this is often referred to as ocean acidification. The excess carbon dissolves into oxygen in the water, producing a chemical called carbonic acid. This acid causes the ocean to become more acidic. In the eighteenth century, the pH was 8.07 which was slightly basic. Currently, the pH is around 8.01 this is about a twenty-five percent increase in acidity. (National geographic) While this slight change may not seem outrageous, it is causing multiple marine life struggles. The acid melts the shells of pteropods causing a low supply of food that would support larger fish.