Ocean acidification
This thread is for discussion of ocean acidification, its causes, properties and ramifications.
Climate Conversation Group
Taking the heat out of global warming
For the first time in history, people shouting “the end is nigh” are somehow
For the first time in history, people shouting “the end is nigh” are somehow
the sane ones, while those of us who say it is not are now the lunatics.
Latest climate models v. reality
As the models continue to leave actual temperature readings in their dust, sizeable warming halted about 1995 — although it might resume at any time. It must hasten to have any hope of catching up with the predictions.
If you claim warming continues, we want evidence of continued warming — eminently reasonable. Making us wait for 17 years for that evidence invites us to doubt you.
Claiming that warming hasn't stopped is the same as claiming it has — and both are ridiculous, for nobody knows the future. The best you can do is describe the past.
Click graph for larger version.
The PH Scale
0 – 14,
7 is neutral,
7 -14 is alkaline,
0 – 7 is acid,
the ocean is 8+
Go figger!
Acid Seas, Back to Basic
Dennis Ambler, February 2010
Huff Post is really getting silly now.
Climate Science Round-Up: Ocean Fertilization (or Climate Liposuction)
Ocean Acidification Database
CO2 Science
NGO pleads for $15 billion “ocean acidification” monitoring system
Posted on November 1, 2010 by Anthony Watts
Via Eurekalert, from the NGO Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans (POGO), a press release that says, “panic! please send money”. Here’s the punch line:
The Foundation says the average level of pH at the ocean surface has dropped from 8.2 to 8.1 units, “rendering the oceans more acidic than they have been for 20 million years,”
Note that any pH lower than 7.0 is considered “acidic”. Distilled (pure) water has a pH of 7.0. Right now the ocean with a pH of 8.1 is considered “basic”.
Forgot the link
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/11/01/scientists-plead-for-15-billion-ocean-acidification-monitoring-system/
$15 billion could buy an awful lot of litmus paper.
Are oceans becoming more acidic and is this a threat to marine life?
By Dr J Floor Anthoni (2007)
seafriends.org.nz
This looks like a really good site. Lots of useful information.
Yes, RT quoted it in a reply to Chris that was more educational than my sarc.
http://www.climateconversation.wordshine.co.nz/2010/10/royal-society-humiliated/#comment-28903
Lots of marine issues in an NZ context, I’ll put under “climate” “blogs” eventually.
… and a lot of rubbish as well. I think the author is a bit out of his depth.
The great men of Otago (Doug Mackie and Keith Hunter) are planning an 18 part series on Ocean Acidification over at Skeptical Science.
http://www.skepticalscience.com/Mackie_OA_not_OK_post_0.html
As Mackie points out at Hot topic
“Denialists have not touched ocean acidification because they don’t understand it.”
No Doug, that’s right.
Actually, we haven’t had time to deal with this particular issue, and I am so glad that the great NZers in Otago have managed to lay claim to this last bastion of CAGW
Don’t worry guys, the Zulus are coming.
NIWA’s acidic ocean
—————————————————————————————————————————
New Climate Change Atlas for our massive ocean real estate
Monday, 3 October 2011, 9:22 am
Press Release: NIWA
The seas surrounding New Zealand could warm by up to 4oC in the coming century.
The last ten years of monthly monitoring results have shown an increase in acidity in Subantarctic waters off Otago. This is probably due to the recorded increase in atmospheric CO2 and subsequent CO2 uptake by the ocean. This trend is consistent with that observed in long-term time series studies in other regions of the ocean. Ocean acidification has been shown to affect reproduction, behavior, and physiological functions of some species.
Background facts
• surface waters will warm, freshen (i.e., become less salty), and so become less dense. This will increase the density gradient between surface and deeper waters (i.e., stratification), which will reduce the upward supply of plant nutrients to the surface from deeper waters
• the surface layer where the phytoplankton live will become thinner and so the phytoplankton will receive more light
• the warmer ocean will contain less dissolved oxygen, and the volume of the mid-water column oxygen-deficient zones will increase
• increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will enter the ocean making it more acidic and causing carbonate shells to dissolve at shallower depths
• there will be large-scale changes in wind fields, affecting ocean currents and vertical mixing
• storm frequency and dust deposition will increase, influencing nutrient supply.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC1110/S00002/new-climate-change-atlas-for-our-massive-ocean-real-estate.htm
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Massive spin by NIWA predicated on the words “could warm”.
Apparently the ocean is already acidic and it WILL become MORE acidic according to NIWA.
The ocean is basic (pH 8 -9) according to this scale:-
http://www.elmhurst.edu/~chm/vchembook/184ph.html
Fish reproduction is affected by acidity pH 4 – 5 and fish die in acidity pH 3 – 4.according to college education material.
So NIWA:-
Is the ocean acidic or basic?
Is it acidic and nearing pH 4?
What was the actual pH “acidity” measurement of Subantarctic waters off Otago (and why didn’t you include that in your Press Release)?
How acidic are the oceans?
http://www.seafriends.org.nz/issues/global/acid2.htm#how_acidic
Are oceans becoming more acidic?
http://www.seafriends.org.nz/issues/global/acid2.htm#more_acidic
The seas surrounding New Zealand could warm by up to 4oC in the coming century.
Are they serious? This has to be one of the most outlandish claims I have seen in a long time.
A team led by Dr. Daniel Mayor, an Independent Research Fellow at the University of Aberdeen’s Oceanlab, investigated how future global warming and ocean acidification scenarios affected the health of copepod eggs.
Unlike many other climate-change studies, they repeated their experiment at a later date and found different results.
Dr. Mayor said: “Both of our experiments indicated that the health of copepod eggs remains unaffected when they are exposed to ocean acidification levels predicted for the end of the 21st century. This is great news.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-02-climate-one-off.html
I quess it is not surprising to see articles like this appearing ahead of Doha. I am sure Dorothee
will have earned a ticket.
Headline:
“Rising acidity levels threaten ocean’s food chain, study finds”
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/rising-acidity-levels-threaten-oceans-food-chain-study-finds-20121126-2a23p.html
After 80% of the article details ridiculous claims about absorption of ACO2 causing dangerous rises in ocean acidity, we find that has nothing to do with the research.
Instead:
“We know that the seawater becomes more corrosive below a certain depth which occurs at around 1,000m. However, at one of our sampling sites, we discovered that this point was reached at 200m depth. Marine snails – pteropods – live in this top layer of the ocean,” Bednarek said.
Climate models forecast more intense winds in the Southern Ocean this century if CO2 continues to increase, which will make the mixing of deep water with more [should that be less]acidic surface waters more frequent, the study said.
This will make calcium carbonate reach the upper surface layers of the Southern Ocean by 2050 in winter and by 2100 all year round, said the study’s co-author Dorothee Bakker, research officer at the University of East Anglia.”
Seemingly any piece of scientific research can be spun into a good headline.
University of East Anglia
Ahhhh…. So.