The Effects Of Carbon Dioxide On Our Oceans

etc., are released. A substantial amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere is from the burning of fossil fuels. Evidence acquired from several studies report that since the early nineteenth century, there has been over a 30 percent increase in the carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere.

Over the years Carbon Dioxide has been significantly increasing from human activity. CO2 has a concentration of about 400 ppmv (parts per million volume). Its concentration in the atmosphere was about 280 ppmv before the Industrial Revolution, now it has increased immensely to about 380 ppmv in 2006. Many have said Carbon Dioxide has been the main reason or cause of global warming; saying that if we produce too much of this greenhouse gas it can create a global climate change. Even though carbon dioxide affects the temperature of the atmosphere it also affects the acidity of water specifically in the ocean.

Carbon dioxide is very important in the atmosphere, however only in moderation. For centuries humans have been burning coal, oil, and fossil fuels therefore releasing tons of carbon into the air. The problem with this is that this can cause a problem known as global warming. This is a major climate problem, which has series results on people and the environment. The result on people can be very deadly. Too much carbon in the air can cause cancer.

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.

Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, mankind has slowly increased the total greenhouse gas emissions that enter the atmosphere. Over time, this pollution began to add up. Now planet Earth is struggling to maintain its health with the combined forces of global warming and ocean acidification looking to bring demise. From all portions of the world, troubling changes are emerging in the chemistry of our oceans’ waters. The oceans takes in around a quarter of the Carbon Dioxide that mankind releases into the atmosphere every year, so as atmospheric Carbon Dioxide levels rise, so do the

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

Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the early 1800s, humans have been releasing ever increasing amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels.

The earth is able to hold many types of gases and is capable of amazing things along with that. Carbon Dioxide is nonreactive with most of the things on earth so we hardly notice the increase in carbon dioxide levels that are occurring. With its non-reactivity it can slowly build up and the only way we will notice the increase of the carbon dioxide here is by the climate change here on earth. Although there many gases and other compounds that have an effect of the climate change, carbon dioxide seems to be the leading compound that is causing climate change on earth. From 1750 to 2005 carbon dioxide the radiative force of carbon dioxide had increased 1.6 which means it is causing the earth to get warmer. There are other gases that have more

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.

Between present day and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the concentration of CO2 dissolved in our oceans has risen by more than 30% (1). This is because nature wants to exist in equilibrium (2), so our oceans are absorbing CO2 until the concentration of the molecule is the same or similar to that of the air around it. Since the amount of carbon dioxide in the air is increasing, the amount absorbed into the sea is increasing as well. Experts say that if the levels of CO2 continue to increase at a similar rate, the end of the century will sea the ocean 150% more acidic than pre-Industrial Revolution (2,7). These rates have not been seen in more than 20 million years (2,7).

The main factors in this climate change are observed to be the increase in temperatures and the resulting acidification of the oceans. The previously mentioned changes and others in the report are readily observable, such as the uptake of anthropogenic carbon since 1750 that has led to the ocean becoming more acidic, with an average decrease in pH of 0.1 units and in some instances blatantly obvious, even to the average layperson. It is difficult to conclude what the rate of change in the future will be and the effects of observed ocean acidification on the marine biosphere.

Carbon dioxide is the greenhouse gas naturally found in the atmosphere. Since the advent of the Industrial Revolution in the 1700s, humans have devised many inventions that burn fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gases, which, along with other human activities such as clearing land for agriculture or urban settlements, help some of these greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere that in turn trap more heat radiation in the atmosphere causing the Earth’s climate to become warmer than it would naturally (Mastrandrea). This unnatural phenomenon is termed global warming by scientists and they blame it for an increase in the Earth’s surface temperature of about 0.6°C (about 1°F) over the last 100 years (Mastrandrea).

Carbon dioxide is released when organic material is broken down whether it is from burning or if it is from decay. The main ways carbon is released is from the burning of fossil fuels and the burning of tropical forests in the use of new farmland and grazing land for cattle. “By itself, fossilfuel consumption is responsible for the annual release of 5 billion metric tons of carbon into the air” fossil fuels produce the most carbon dioxide that pollutes our atmosphere by far. The main reason we need to worry about the carbon dioxide increase is because Owen predicts this increase “will hike up the global "thermostat" about 4 [degrees] C (7 [degrees] F).” Many well-respected scientists also disagree with these findings because most of the information is not considered “hard information” and does not take all variables into consideration.

According to NASA: "Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the acidity of surface ocean waters has increased by about 30 percent. This increase is the result of humans emitting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and hence more being absorbed into the oceans. The amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by the upper layer of the oceans is increasing by about

It doesn’t take more than a glance at the news to notice an article related to climate change. I think that most people in the United States are aware of climate change, but many choose to blow it off as something of little importance. One of the areas where climate change is most impactful is in our oceans. Entire ecosystems of our oceans are changed when molecules like carbon dioxide are added into the mix. Carbon dioxide is a killer in the world’s oceans. Not only does this molecule acidify the ocean, but it also has direct consequences on many types of coral and sea plant life. Acidification of planet earth’s seas affects all living organisms under water. I think it is time to address some of the issues that climate change and ocean acidification bring to earth’s healthy oceans and discuss possible ways to cut carbon emissions.