OCEAN ACIDITYMorgan Rosenberg and Eliana Manangon

http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/Sect16/Sect16_2.html

Ocean Acidification• Approximately 93 percent of the CO 2 is found in the

oceans. • Marine plants and animals play a role in the uptake and

release of carbon dioxide in the ocean. • Plants, primarily phytoplankton but also macrophytes such

as this seaweed, take up carbon dioxide and release oxygen, which oxygen-dependent animals need to survive.

• In the 1980s, the oceans removed an estimated 2.0±0.6 pg of anthropogenic CO 2 each year. Because humans are producing CO 2 at an ever increasing rate, the average ocean removal rate increased to 2.4±0.5 pg of carbon each year in the 1990s

Changes in Ocean AcidityDirectly related to increased CO2 in atmosphere

About ¼ of the CO2 in the atmosphere goes into the ocean

Ocean acidity has increased by 30% since the Industrial RevolutionpH from 8.179 to 8.069 in about 250 years

pH estimated to drop another 0.3 to 0.5 by 2100 Environmental and economic concerns:

Organisms with calcium carbonate shells, such as microscopic plankton, corals, and shellfish dissolve

Corals lose calcification ratesCountries dependent on marine organisms face economic

problems