Ocean Acidification : What Is Ocean Acidification?

The Ocean has many ecosystems and animals that live and survive in there. We depend on some of the natural resources the ocean provides. We are hurting this by dangerous fishing and overfishing or overexploitation of the fish. The ocean has a great diversity

What is your PH level? You don’t know? Well it should be around 7.35 to 7.45 according to AlteredStates.net. PH stands for power of hydrogen. PH level is a measurement of the hydrogen ion concentration in the body. Now imagine you’re peeling an orange with a cut on your finger. When the juice from the orange comes into contact with your cut, it sends a burning feeling to your brain. This occurs because an orange has a PH level of around 2-3 which is acidic burning unprotected cells around the cut. Now imagine you’re stepping into the ocean which has been made acidic causing your cells to burn. This is called Ocean Acidification. Ocean Acidification is the change of our beautiful ocean water into acid. The Oceans acidity is rapidly increasing in certain areas in the pacific due to our actions on this planet, namely Carbon Dioxide Pollution. It is not only endangering ocean life but also Human life on Earth. It is linked to Global Warming but Ocean Acidification is a problem that stands on its own. Therefore, it is evident that we must take action about Ocean Acidification.

The ocean is one of the biggest components of the world’s ecosystem. Today, countless amounts of people are completely unaware of how much of an impact the ocean has on our world. If we continue to destroy our oceans our world can be thrown into dystopia. The ocean is responsible for the food on our tables, and weather patterns. We also might be able to have other world crises be solved if we clean up our oceans, like global warming. The ocean produces half of the oxygen we consume, also one-third of carbon dioxide emissions produced by humans is consumed by the ocean. The quote “While many of us enjoy the spectacular recreational activities that oceans offer, for some people oceans are a lifeline for survival”, ( The Nature Conservancy 5).

Oceans cover approximately 75% of Earth 's surface and are vital to this planet and the people who inhabit it. Oceans provide food, natural resources, and recreation for nearly everyone in this world. Unfortunately Oceans have been receiving mass amount of pollutants including oil spills, toxic waste dumping, and industrial dumping. These pollutants will have negative impacts on the wildlife in the ocean, as we are seeing already with the Coral Reefs, and soon enough it will begin to affect our lives as well.

As you are aware, there are millions of people all over the world that do not care about our planet. They live day-to-day with the ignorance about the world, assuming, the earth is indestructible, despite the warning signs of global warming. The Ocean covers 71 percent of Earth. Keeping it clean is a responsibility that all humanity must participate in. Keeping the ocean pollution to a minimum is essential to our living status and we should be more educated on the issue. Having pollution in the water severely affects the way we live.

Everything in this world we use comes from the ocean in some way. The air we breathe, the water we drink, even the products we use day to day, would not be possible without the ocean. That's why the issue of ocean pollution is so important and needs to be addressed as soon as possible. We depend on the ocean for so much in our life, without it we would surely become extinct. People seem to think that since the ocean is so large and vast, we can dump as much waste as we'd like into it and it will never have an effect on us. However, since we've been polluting the ocean as far back as Roman times, the evidence of ocean pollution becoming a major problem is all too clear.

The first major effect that Ocean Acidification has is the reduction of pH levels in the ocean. PH is very important in this case because it generally determines how acidic water is. The normal pH balance of water is 7. When Ocean Acidification occurs the pH levels in the ocean can dip below 7 therefore increasing the acidity of the water. Even though humans may be able to adapt to these kind of changes other species in the ocean cannot. Scientists estimate that by the end of this century Ocean Acidification can consequently cause the acidity of ocean water to increase by nearly 150%. That level of acidic water hasn't been seen or thrived in for almost 20 million years. Before major industries were created increasing CO2 in the atmosphere, the ocean relied on minerals carried into the ocean by rivers and lakes to balance out pH levels. Now that humans are producing too much Co2 for the atmosphere to handle the rivers and lakes can not carry enough minerals to keep pH in balance. If pH levels continue to fall major populations that call the ocean home will no longer exist. All it

What is ocean acidification, what can we do to help the oyster and shellfish from dying. How much does the ocean absorb over the past 250 years of carbon dioxide. How is the oyster farmers dying in the Northwest. How does IOOS help oyster farms. How much ocean acidity may increase by the end of the century. These are only few of the question that not been answered.

Ocean acidification is becoming on of the most concerning subjects compared to global climate change. pH is the level of acidity, seven being neutral fourteen being most basic and zero being most acidic. The pH levels in the ocean are dropping and becoming more acidic. This is happening because of increasing carbon dioxide emissions. The ocean is taking in the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

This tragedy is called ocean acidification. Ocean Acidification is the rapid decrease in the pH, (pH is the measure of ocean acidity,) of the Earth's ocean, caused by its intake of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This rapid increase of carbon dioxide is directly coming from the large consumption of fossil fuel that humans constantly release into the air for our own selfish reasons. As we increase the level of carbon dioxide that is being released in a short amount of time, we are letting small amounts seeps into the earth's oceans through the continual water cycle. When the carbon dioxide seeps into the oceans, it begins to turn into carbonic acid. In small amounts, carbonic acid is not seriously harmful and is usually part of the ocean

Hardt, M.J. and C. Safina. 2009. 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. Scientific American 301:66-73.

Ocean acidification isn’t hard to understand because the name is self-explanatory but in simpler terms, carbon dioxide is pushed into the water become more acidic. Ocean acidification has much effect on how the flora and fauna of the sea adapt and live. The “subtle change in chemistry lowers the water’s saturation in aragonite” that Slezak (1) explains can be very effective how coral grow and build. Currently, oceans are staying at a rate of 3.8 aragonite saturation which isn’t entirely horrible but slezak (1) mentions many scientists believe “corals will stop building reefs when the saturation state drops below 2.5”. However, coral will just begin to ache once it hits the 2.5 point, but it’s “not a point of no return beyond to which they

Ocean acidification is a phenomenon whereby progressively less alkaline the ocean, the surface waters of the oceans is currently slightly alkaline where the average degree of concentration of hydrogen ions nearly 8.1. And haven't experienced marine acidification rate like this for several million years. ocean acidification due to increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere dissolves in the oceans. And this process largely independent of climate, despite the high temperature of the sea

Global warming is a serious worldwide issue. Its effects are devastating; the increased heat waves that it causes will negatively affect wildfires, insect infestations, sea level rise, agriculture and human health. Moreover, the current issue is the elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide. This involves a process called ocean acidification, in which it is catastrophic for the life of the oceans. To better understand the concept behind ocean acidification, you must understand that pH represents the concentration of hydrogen ions. In addition, chemicals known as buffering agents are able to resist changes in pH. Now you may be wondering what buffer has to do with this article; well, little did you know the seawater acts as a buffer. The dissolved

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.