Ocean Acidification

[duyunne]

Here's a very daunting piece... i'm sure some of you have seen this on other news feeds.

"New research suggests ocean acidification and volcanic activity caused the most dramatic mass extinction in history.

The devastating extinction took place 252 million years ago, and killed off 90 percent of marine speices and over two-thirds of the animals present on land, the University of Edinburgh reported. The event occurred when the Earth's oceans absorbed giant amounts of carbon dioxide emitted by volcanic eruptions. The massive absorption changed the ocean's chemistry, causing it to become more acidic. This acidification was believed to be what pushed extinction event over the edge, causing the massive loss of diversity."

http://www.hngn.com/articles/83655/20150409/ocean-acidification-from-atmospheric-carbon-caused-largest-mass-extinction-in-history.htm

"The findings could help researchers gain insight into the threat imposed by ocean acidification on modern sea life. The amount of carbon released in the atmosphere during the historical extinction was believed to have been larger than what exists in fossil fuel reserves today, but it was released at a rate similar to modern emissions.The Permian-Triassic Boundary extinction took place over a period of 60,000 years, and persisted for another 10,000."

 

[A Jay]

Here's a very daunting piece... i'm sure some of you have seen this on other news feeds.

"New research suggests ocean acidification and volcanic activity caused the most dramatic mass extinction in history.

The devastating extinction took place 252 million years ago, and killed off 90 percent of marine speices and over two-thirds of the animals present on land, the University of Edinburgh reported. The event occurred when the Earth's oceans absorbed giant amounts of carbon dioxide emitted by volcanic eruptions. The massive absorption changed the ocean's chemistry, causing it to become more acidic. This acidification was believed to be what pushed extinction event over the edge, causing the massive loss of diversity."

http://www.hngn.com/articles/83655/20150409/ocean-acidification-from-atmospheric-carbon-caused-largest-mass-extinction-in-history.htm

"The findings could help researchers gain insight into the threat imposed by ocean acidification on modern sea life. The amount of carbon released in the atmosphere during the historical extinction was believed to have been larger than what exists in fossil fuel reserves today, but it was released at a rate similar to modern emissions.The Permian-Triassic Boundary extinction took place over a period of 60,000 years, and persisted for another 10,000."

They're approaching the event with the idea that carbon dioxide can be a driver of climate changes, and therefor they're seeing a correlation and declaring it to be a causal relationship. OSIT.

 

[duyunne]

http://m.phys.org/news/2015-04-lobster-growth-decline-ocean-acidification.html

"Those are the results of a four-month laboratory study conducted by University of Rhode Island doctoral student Erin McLean. "I'm not sure yet what the mechanism is that is affecting their growth," she said, "but it takes energy for them to regulate the increased acidity, which is energy they cannot then put toward growth."
She presented her research findings last week at the annual meeting of the National Shellfisheries Association in Monterey, Calif.

Much of the carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere, which has led to the changing climate, is absorbed into the oceans, where it dissolves and forms carbonic acid. That acid reduces the pH of the ocean and reduces the available quantity of carbonate that shellfish and crustaceans like lobsters need to build their shells."to

 

[duyunne]

"The coccolithophore E. huxleyi is important in the marine carbon cycle and is responsible for nearly half of all calcium carbonate production in the ocean, said lead study author Natalie Freeman, a doctoral student in the CU-Boulder's Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (ATOC). The new study indicates there has been a 24 percent decline in the amount of calcium carbonate produced in large areas of the Southern Ocean over the past 17 years."

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-03/uoca-soa032515.php

 

[duyunne]

I suppose I'm trying to point out a running theme here... not necessarily trying to promote one single story but to pique focus on the issue of oceanic acidification in general.

 

[A Jay]

From wiki:

Ocean acidification is the ongoing decrease in the pH of the Earth's oceans, caused by the uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere.

It seems that the claim that the ocean has become "more acidic" is based on surface water testing of pH, which may or may not be a valid form of testing since the ocean has different layers and currents just like the atmosphere does. At the same time, the terminology of 'more acidic' is not only misleading but it's very much alarmist and fear-mongering. If anything the correct phrasing would be 'slightly less alkaline'.

Increasing acidity is thought to have a range of possibly harmful consequences, such as depressing metabolic rates and immune responses in some organisms, and causing coral bleaching. This also causes decreasing oxygen levels as it kills off algae.

Here the assumption is made that more CO2 in the ocean is a bad thing. But is it really the case? I mean, more CO2 in the ocean means more substrate for algae and phytoplankton to use for photosynthesis, and if the majority of the world's oxygen comes from these sources then I would think that more CO2 would be better.

It seems like these "scientists" that are talking about 'ocean acidification' are cherry-picking information to highlight only that which can be twisted or distorted and used to support their idea that CO2 is bad and that everything we're seeing is the result of human CO2 emissions.

http://m.phys.org/news/2015-04-lobster-growth-decline-ocean-acidification.html

A completely irrelevant study based on atmospheric modeling of a future that has no basis in reality.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-03/uoca-soa032515.php

The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) funded the research.

Hardly unbiased research, and the claim 'that global oceans have become up to 30 percent more acidic since the Industrial Revolution' is based on numbers manipulation to over-state something that likely plays little role in anything. Just like how the effect of CO2 has been trumped up and over-stated in the atmosphere, the same likely applies to the planets oceans.

A little further on in the article:

"While we generally expect acidification to negatively impact coccolithophore calcification and growth, other environmental stressors... may have influenced these processes," said Lovenduski.

So they're just making an 'educated guess' (read: assumption) that what they're seeing is being caused by 'ocean acidification' based on the lies that human carbon emissions are destroying the world. However, it's entirely possible that what they're seeing is the result of climate and environmental changes, just not the way they think.

 

[A Jay]

So they're just making an 'educated guess' (read: assumption) that what they're seeing is being caused by 'ocean acidification' based on the lies that human carbon emissions are destroying the world. However, it's entirely possible that what they're seeing is the result of climate and environmental changes, just not the way they think.

Note the comment at the end of this article:

http://www.sott.net/article/295095-Is-Warm-Anomaly-in-Pacific-Ocean-the-blob-linked-to-weird-weather-across-the-US

 

[MusicMan]

_http://www.livescience.com/24025-illegal-iron-dumping-phytoplankton-bloom.html

This link talks about the consequences of adding iron to the ocean.
This can also happen in the event of dust storms and volcanic activity.
The resultant algal bloom actually removes CO2 from the atmosphere, and when the plankton die, they carry it to the sea floor, effectively sequestering it there, as limestone.

Climate scientists have a vested interest in keeping their stipends, so I'm sure their 'research' is slanted toward any result that favours this outcome.

 

[duyunne]

Thanks A JAY and Musicman.