Thread: Oceans have acidified more in the last 200 years than they did in the previous 21,000

More research has come out highlighting the dangers of global warming's evil twin, ocean acidification. The health of the oceans is at severe risk from pollution and overfishing already so the damage from the accumulating acidification threatens the whole marine ecology which in turn threatens a significant part of mankind's food sources.

Oceans have acidified more in the last 200 years than they did in the previous 21,000 years
Daily Mail
23rd January 2012
(excerpts)

Man-made carbon emissions have acidified the world's oceans far beyond their natural levels, new research suggests. In some regions, acidity levels rose faster in the last two centuries than it did in the previous 21,000 years, a study from the University of Hawaii has shown. Ocean acidity makes it harder for organisms such as molluscs and coral to construct the protective layers they need to survive.

Dr Tobias Friedrich, from the University of Hawaii, who led the study published in the journal Nature Climate Change, said: 'Any significant drop below the minimum level of aragonite to which the organisms have been exposed to for thousands of years and have successfully adapted will very likely stress them and their associated ecosystems. 'In some regions, the man-made rate of change in ocean acidity since the industrial revolution is 100 times greater than the natural rate of change between the Last Glacial Maximum and pre-industrial times.' He added: 'When Earth started to warm 17,000 years ago, terminating the last glacial period, atmospheric CO2 (carbon dioxide) levels rose from 190 parts per million (ppm) to 280 ppm over 6,000 years. Marine ecosystems had ample time to adjust. Now, for a similar rise in CO2 concentration to the present level of 392 ppm, the adjustment time is reduced to only 100 - 200 years.'

Co-author Professor Axel Timmermann, also from the University of Hawaii, said: 'Our results suggest that severe reductions are likely to occur in coral reef diversity, structural complexity and resilience by the middle of this century.'

Here some background on this grave threat to the health of the Earth's oceans and mankind's food supplies that is called 'ocean acidification'.

What is Ocean Acidification?
NOAA

Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the pH of surface ocean waters has fallen by 0.1 pH units. Since the pH scale, like the Richter scale, is logarithmic, this change represents approximately a 30 percent increase in acidity. Future predictions indicate that the oceans will continue to absorb carbon dioxide and become even more acidic. Estimates of future carbon dioxide levels, based on business as usual emission scenarios, indicate that by the end of this century the surface waters of the ocean could be nearly 150 percent more acidic, resulting in a pH that the oceans haven’t experienced for more than 20 million years.


How will ocean acidification affect marine life?
(excerpts)

Corals, calcareous phytoplankton, mussels, snails, sea urchins and other marine organisms use calcium (Ca) and carbonate (CO3) in seawater to construct their calcium carbonate (CaCO3) shells or skeletons. As the pH decreases, carbonate becomes less available, which makes it more difficult for organisms to secrete CaCO3 to form their skeletal material. For animals in general, including invertebrates and some fish, CO2 accumulation and lowered pH may result in acidosis, or a build up of carbonic acid in the organism's body fluids. This can lead to lowered immune response, metabolic depression, behavioural depression affecting physical activity and reproduction, and asphyxiation. Since the oceans have never experienced such a rapid acidification, it is not clear if ecosystems have the ability to adapt to these changes (1,2). Effects of ocean acidification on organisms and ecosystems are still poorly understood. Over the last few years, research has intensified significantly to fill the many knowledge gaps.

Corals?

Nearly 500 million people depend on healthy coral reefs for sustenance, coastal protection, renewable resources, and tourism, with an estimated 30 million of the world's poorest people depending entirely on the reefs for food (3).

Coral reefs face two challenges from increasing atmospheric CO2. First, higher CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere are linked to warmer global temperatures, which in turn lead to warmer water temperatures. Corals are very sensitive to temperature change: a 1–2º C change in local temperature above their normal summer maximum can lead to a phenomenon called ‘bleaching’, whereby the corals expel their vital algal symbionts (algae which live in the cells of the coral), leaving the coral tissues translucent. In 1998, a single bleaching event led to the loss of almost 20% of the world’s living coral. Corals can recover from these events but repeated episodes are likely to weaken the coral ecosystem, making them more susceptible to disease and causing a loss of biodiversity. The second challenge faced by corals is the increasing acidity of the water caused by higher CO2 concentrations (4). Lowered calcification rates affect the reef ’s ability to grow its carbonate skeleton, leading to slower growth of the reef and a more fragile structural support, which makes it more vulnerable to erosion. By the middle of this century, the estimated reduction in calcification rates may lead to more reef area erosion than can be rebuilt through new calcification (5).[/QUOTE]

Uncle Ferd says ocean gonna turn acidy an' burn a hole clean through to China - is called the China Syndrome...

Study: Ocean Acidity Exceeds Natural Norms
January 25, 2012 - Rapidly rising CO2 emissions change ocean chemistry

New research suggests an overload of carbon dioxide in the oceans is posing a serious threat to marine life, food security and tourism. While most CO2 emissions from automobiles, buildings and factories go into the atmosphere, one-third ends up in the oceans, changing ocean chemistry and making seawater more acid. A study in Nature Climate Change tracks ocean acidity over 21,000 years of climate history. Tobias Friedrich, co-author and post-doctoral fellow at the University of Hawaii International Pacific Research Center says the record shows natural increases in CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere over time and differences from region to region. “This, of course, also had an effect on acidity levels in the ocean, and then (we) compared this naturally occurring increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations with man-man emissions over the last two-hundred years.”

The scientists used computer models with data from ice and ocean sediment cores to simulate ocean conditions, back to the ice age and forward to the end of the 21st century. When Earth started to warm 17,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age, atmospheric CO2 began to rise. Over the next 6,000 years, it grew from 190 parts per million to 280 parts per million. Marine systems had time to adjust.

Axel Timmerman is a professor of oceanography at the University of Hawaii International Pacific Research Center and co-author of the study. He says the past 200 years paint a much different picture. “Starting with the pre-industrial revolution, anthropogenic emissions increased so much that the oceans suddenly started to take up huge amounts of carbon.” CO2 concentration in the atmosphere now stands at 392 parts per million. Timmerman says the study, which also includes 30 years of observational data, finds dangerously high levels of ocean acidification in certain regions. “Such as the coral triangle, the western tropic of the Pacific and the Caribbean exceed the naturally occurring levels by factors of up to thirty in a few spots.”

Timmerman says this is happening at an accelerated pace. “The rate of change is about two orders of magnitude faster than what occurred during the last glacial period about 20 to 15,000 years ago.” While ocean acidification could have been detected much earlier, scientists only began to monitor it a few decades ago. As seawater becomes more acid, carbonate - the mineral many sehllfish and corals use to form their shells and skeletons - is reduced. Coupled with pollution and warming temperatures, it is a serious threat to ocean life. Axel Timmerman says his study gives decision-makers another tool for assessing that threat and evaluating the steps they can take to mitigate it.

Source

Warmers are getting nowhere with AGW, so they shift gears on their attempts at deception to acidification.

But the "remedy" remains the same: More taxes, more regulations, and sticking it to the American consumer.

Originally Posted by Taxcutter

Warmers are getting nowhere with AGW, so they shift gears on their attempts at deception to acidification.

But the "remedy" remains the same: More taxes, more regulations, and sticking it to the American consumer.

Any paranoid conspiracy theories that involve a deliberate deception perpetrated by almost all of the Earth's scientists, are extremely insane and completely divorced from reality.

This cult of anti-science reality denial that has captured so many rightwingers is a bizarre manifestation of America's crazy propaganda driven political system and the extreme and undue influence the fossil fuel industry has over the government and the media

The scientific evidence for AGW and ocean acidification is overwhelming to any rational person so the propagandists have worked to diminish public confidence in the validity of the science and smear the integrity of the scientists. This approach seems to have worked fairly well with the less intelligent and less educated sections of the population, particularly with those who were raised fundamentalist or evangelical since they were taught that their religion trumps science in the matter of evolution. The fossil fuel industry, as a whole, does not want to give up their trillion dollar a year profit stream even though mounting evidence indicates that continuing to burn fossil fuels will destroy the Earth's ecosystems and quite possibly our civilization. The US military, a rather hard headed bunch, consider global warming and climate changes to be a major threat to world security. But I guess, for the rightwingnuts, even the military is in on the 'conspiracy'.

"Science" has discredited itself.

After the failure to clean house after ClimateGate 1.0 and 2.0, what right do politicized "scientists" have to expect anyone to believe what they say?

Until there is major housecleaning, "science" is no more credible than MSNBC.

Originally Posted by Taxcutter

"Science" has discredited itself.

After the failure to clean house after ClimateGate 1.0 and 2.0, what right do politicized "scientists" have to expect anyone to believe what they say?

Until there is major housecleaning, "science" is no more credible than MSNBC.

or Fox News... just throwing it out there

Carbon dioxide is natural and i suspect this is all part of a normal natural process. Secondly, scientists haven't been measuring acidity for the past 200 years and certainly not for the last 2000. SO. I'm thinking this is more globaloney. Just another shot at the rest of us to scare us into thinking we GOTTA do something drastic. I think the oceans have become acidic and then alkaline many times over since the beginning of time. More than likely this is just the result of the volcanoes and the catastrophe in japan last year.

Originally Posted by Taxcutter

Warmers are getting nowhere with AGW, so they shift gears on their attempts at deception to acidification.

But the "remedy" remains the same: More taxes, more regulations, and sticking it to the American consumer.

And denialists cannot grasp basic science

See? I can play that game too!

Originally Posted by MisLed

Carbon dioxide is natural and i suspect this is all part of a normal natural process. Secondly, scientists haven't been measuring acidity for the past 200 years and certainly not for the last 2000. SO. I'm thinking this is more globaloney. Just another shot at the rest of us to scare us into thinking we GOTTA do something drastic. I think the oceans have become acidic and then alkaline many times over since the beginning of time. More than likely this is just the result of the volcanoes and the catastrophe in japan last year.

So got an explanation for the "natural process"?

Ahem - yes we can measure acidity - try coral cores, fossil records and even the fact that 200 years ago we actually knew about acids and alkali's

We also know chemistry