Why Does Ocean Acidify?

This lab started out when our class was reading an article on ocean acidification. The article was explaining that ocean acidification has been increasing. “Since the industrial revolution in the early 1800s, the ocean’s pH has dropped to 8.1, the equivalent of a 30 percent increase in acidity.” [1 hhmi] Our class began the lab to prove the increase in acidification in the ocean. Our guiding question is, what does different concentrations of acid do to shells? The hypothesis for the experiment is, the different concentrations of acid will decrease the mass of the shells.

Include a graph showing your results compared to that of the control and class. Analyze the data summarizing the important relationships between the variables used in class.):When we launched the geyser, it reached a height of twenty-two feet, and was fast to come out, but stayed in the air for a short time. It sounded like a gas pipe that has just ruptured, or steam spewing out of a kettle. The geyser spewed out brown Coke and emptied out about two-thirds of the bottle. After a taste test, I found that the Coke was very flat, concluding that the Mentos took away all of the

“Since the beginning of the industrial era, the ocean has absorbed some 525 billion tons of CO2 from the atmosphere, presently around 22 million tons per day” (Ocean Portal, n.d). This number is expected to increase forevermore as atmospheric carbon dioxide levels increase and the effects of Climate Change worsen. At first, the idea of our oceans absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere may sound great, however, scientists have been quick to learn otherwise. High concentrations of carbon dioxide in oceans can have detrimental effects on the ocean chemistry and marine ecosystems (Hardt; Safina, 2008). Marine ecosystems are greatly complex and depend on every marine organism to function properly, any change can put the whole ecosystem at risk. For example, the increase of carbon dioxide in our oceans is responsible for the dissolving of “brittle star” skeletal parts, which has in effect caused food scarcity for many fish, crabs, shrimp, and other starfish (Leu, 2013). Furthermore, these marine ecosystems are very important to humans- being the primary food source for millions around the world and having an economic market worth trillions of dollars (Hardt; Safina, 2008). Part of keeping these ecosystems safe is to understand how they work and how projected changes can harm marine organisms.

|oceans would absorb. The ocean would continue to soak up carbon until global warming heated the ocean enough to slow down ocean |

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.

I am a water loving science geek teenager, who has dreamed of being a marine biologist since I was a child. My love of water started when I was four years old participating in my first swim lesson at my local YMCA, which I now work at as a lifeguard and swim instructor. My water passion has continued throughout my life advancing through swim lesson to club and high school swimming. One of my proudest moments was swimming with kids twice my age and keeping up the whole swim lesson, which for me was more of a practice. After that, swim lesson extremely tired, but could not wait to go back.

One-third of the carbon dioxide (CO2) that is in the atmosphere as a result of human activity has been absorbed by oceans where it can remain as carbon for tens to hundreds of years (Ma et al., 2015). Anthropogenic CO2 (ACO2) primarily enters the ocean though differences in partial pressure between the atmosphere and ocean boundary, although uptake by marine organisms is also a significant dissolved carbon contributor (Millero, 1995). Once the ACO2 is dissolved into seawater however, the path it takes from dissolution to sequestration is less clear. Millero (1995) found that ACO2 in the ocean is often transported to a different area of the ocean through physical mechanisms that include wind-driven Ekman transport, eddy fluxes, and lateral transport. Each of these mechanisms contribute to the transportation of masses of water, and therefore dissolved ACO2, around the Southern Ocean (Millero, 1995).

The Ocean is our main life source and it is changing by the people throwing things away or the climate ruining it. What happens when we destroy is the earth life system is getting destroyed too. What we don’t realize is that we are nature, we’re connected with nature industrial evalution nation turned as a resource. All this farming that people are doing and the carbon that is being made are making ocean dead zones. All the warm ocean causes it to increase the carbon dioxide. For example What does different concentrations of acid do to shells? When CO2 is absorbed by seawater chemical reactions occur that reduce seawater pH levels. Calcium carbonate minerals are the buildings blocks for the skeletons and shells of many marine life. My hypothesis

As carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, increased concentrations of it have led to an amplified greenhouse effect. More solar infrared radiation is re-emitted and absorbed by the Earth, causing surface temperatures to rise. Therefore, the density of the surface waters will decrease, which means there is a greater

Ocean acidification is caused when the CO₂ from the air enters into the ocean and bonds with sea water creating a toxic acid called carbonic acid. Carbonic acid reduces the natural pH levels of the water which as a result has been increasing the ocean acidity by 30%. This reduces the calcium concentration in the water, making it hard for crustaceans like crabs and prawns to build their shell. This means that they are more vulnerable to predators, and we can all figure out what happens when an entire species is vulnerable to predators. Air pollution is not the only factor that causes the water to become polluted. In fact, there are many more including fertilizer that gets washed into the oceans and also oils spills. According to the Water Project, 783 million people worldwide do not have access to clean and safe water, and according to the Worldwatch Institute, approximately 450 million kilograms of pesticides U.S. farmers use every year have now contaminated almost all of the United States' streams and rivers, and the fish living in them.

Ocean acidification is caused by carbon dioxide emissions. It threatens the health of our oceans and living things under the water. Shell-organism like crab, just like what we had for the investigation, are formed primarily of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). Calcium carbonate is formed when calcium ion binds with carbonate molecules. Most CO2 is produced when possible fuels are burned, and once it gets to the air, CO2 is absorbed into the ocean through wave action. Once it gets absorbed, CO2 combines with water to form carbonic acid. Carbonic acid breaks down easily into bicarbonate molecules and hydrogen ions. Calcium and bicarbonate cannot bind together to form shells. Carbonate that usually form shells binds more easily with the hydrogen ions,

The ocean is becoming increasingly acidic and it is posing a threat to ocean life in more ways than one. Animals with shells have trouble building them due to the acidity of the ocean, and corals have trouble building their skeletons as well. However, the acidity of the ocean is also interfering with the many of the bodily functions of all underwater life, including things such as growth and reproduction. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would be much higher if the oceans didn’t absorb nearly one third of the carbon dioxide. This helps to reduce global warming but is having negative effects on the ocean. Over the past 20 years the pH of the all of the ocean’s surface has decreased by .12 down to 8.1 which is still basic

The world’s oceans absorb around a quarter of emissions caused by human activities; the burning of fossil fuels, for example. This reduces the speed of climate change, and about 40% of this absorption happens in the Southern Ocean, which surrounds the Antarctic. Carbon dioxide gets soaked in from the air and is then released by the Ocean every year, but with a net uptake. It is the planet’s strongest ocean carbon sink. Earlier studies had suggested that the rising emissions caused by humans had caused over-saturation at the Southern Ocean during the 1980s, and researchers estimated that the efficiency of this body of water to absorb

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.

The de-basification is caused by the ocean absorbing more and more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The ocean is important to us because of this fact; it is actually working against climate change. The article “A Review of Ocean Acidification and America’s Response” by Cheryl A Logan states: “The oceans have absorbed approximately 30% of the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted by humankind…” (Logan, 2010, 819). Things that contribute to atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide are mainly human activities dealing with industrialization. These things include: burning fossil fuels, the disposal of wastes into the ocean, and soil erosion and runoff. Burning fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which is in turn later dissolved by the ocean. With increased CO2 concentrations in the air, that means that ocean will be taking in even more. As for waste disposal into the ocean, dangerous liquids, sewage, and