Marine crisis looms over acidifying oceans

[Dover]

Marine crisis looms over acidifying oceans
16:38 30 June 2005

The oceans are gradually turning into a vast “fizzy drink”, a transformation that could be catastrophic for ocean life. Levels of carbonic acid - the reaction product of water and carbon dioxide that is found in soda water - are increasing at a rate one hundred times faster than the world has seen for millions of years.

The cause is the ever-increasing level of CO2 in the atmosphere. And as well as devastating marine ecosystems, the knock-on effects of increasing acidification include harm to major economic activities such as tourism and fishing.

These are the conclusions of the first review of the state-of-knowledge about the acidification of the oceans. The report was produced by an international group of scientists, commissioned by the Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of science.

The oceans are naturally alkaline but, since the industrial revolution, the sea surfaces have been turning ever more acidic. The report says that if CO2 emissions continue at current rates then by 2100 the pH of the sea will fall by as much as 0.5 units from its current level of pH 8.2. The pH scale runs from 1 (acidic) to 14 (alkaline), with 7 being neutral. And in the case of the oceans, the change would be effectively irreversible.

“It will take many thousands of years for natural processes to return the oceans to their pre-industrial state,” says John Raven, at the University of Dundee, UK....cont'd

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7609

[crizzo5137]

1. Joy!!!!!!

Now I feel like a Coke!..

yet more English coverage...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4633681.stm

[Dover]

2. Ancient glimpse of seas' bleak future

Ancient glimpse of seas' bleak future
18 June 2005
Jeff Hecht


FIFTY-five million years ago the Earth warmed rapidly, the oceans turned acidic and deep-sea creatures died en masse. A massive release of carbon gases has been the prime suspect, but no one was sure how massive. And it wasn't clear just how long the oceans remained acidic.

Now, sediment cores drilled from the ocean floor have revealed that the emission of nearly 4500 gigatons of carbon into the atmosphere led to the catastrophic global warming, and that the resulting acidification of the oceans lasted more than 100,000 years. It serves as a warning and backs up computer models that have predicted similar long-lasting effects if, as seems likely, humans release comparable amounts of carbon dioxide over the next few hundred years...cont'd

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7609

[psychopomp]

3. I really worry about our oceans... I read also that plastic

has been dissolved into the ocean's waters such that a sample taken from anywhere on the planet reveals microscopic bits of plastic. :(

[benburch]

4. You can see this effect clearly in those little closed eco-spheres.

Not enough light and the CO2 builds up, acidifies the water, and everything dies off.