Oceans getting more Acidic since the Industrial Revolution
Ocean acidification refers to a reduction in the pH of the ocean over an extended period of time, caused primarily by uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane released into the atmosphere.
For more than 200 years, or since the industrial revolution, the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere has increased due to the burning of fossil fuels and land use change.
The ocean absorbs about 30% of the CO2 that is released in the atmosphere, and as levels of atmospheric CO2 increase, so do the acidic levels in the ocean, leading to less oxygen and depletion of shelled animals.
Carbonate ions are an important building block of structures such as sea shells and coral skeletons.
Decreases in carbonate ions can make building and maintaining shells and other calcium carbonate structures difficult for calcifying organisms such as oysters, clams, sea urchins, shallow water corals, deep sea corals, and calcareous plankton.
These changes in ocean chemistry can affect the behavior of non-calcifying organisms as well. Certain fish’s ability to detect predators is decreased in more acidic waters. When these organisms are at risk, the entire food web may also be at risk.
Ocean acidification is affecting the entire world’s oceans, including coastal estuaries and waterways. Many economies are dependent on fish and shellfish and people worldwide rely on food from the ocean as their primary source of protein.
For good reason, ocean acidification is often called climate change’s evil twin. The overload of carbon dioxide (CO2) in our ocean is literally causing a sea change, threatening fragile, finite marine life and, in turn, food security, livelihoods and local to global economies.
The consequences of disrupting what has been a relatively stable ocean environment for tens of millions of years are beginning to show.
While much is still unknown about ocean acidification, science already shows that its consequences can be profound. Some of the two most vulnerable species are the small life forms that salmon and other commercially-important fish depend on for food.
How these fish may adapt to an eroding food supply is a critical question.
Along with increasingly acidified waters, the ocean is warming, and the oxygen critical to marine life is decreasing. Each stressor is a problem.
But all three hitting our ocean at one time is a triple threat, with enormous implications for food security, local to global economies, jobs, and vital consumer goods and services.
For good reason, ocean acidification is often called climate change’s evil twin. The overload of carbon dioxide (CO2) in our ocean is literally causing a sea change, threatening fragile, finite marine life and, in turn, food security, livelihoods and local to global economies.
NOAA / ABC Flash Point News 2024.
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For good reason, ocean acidification is often called climate change’s evil twin. The overload of carbon dioxide (CO2) in our ocean is literally causing a sea change, threatening fragile, finite marine life and, in turn, food security, livelihoods and local to global economies.
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