Ocean Acidification: A Cause for Great Alarm

Global warming has been a major public-policy concern for a number of years now but another issue of grave importance has arisen that has gone largely unreported and is something that most people are unaware of. That issue is ocean acidification which has come to the fore in the scientific community during the past five years.

According to the September 17, 2009 issue of Science Daily, since the early 19^th century one-third of anthropogenic (human-generated) CO2 has been absorbed by the world’s oceans which has equaled a yearly “uptake” of one ton of carbon dioxide for each person. Such a large absorption of Co2 by the globe’s oceans has resulted in a radical and disruptive alteration of the seas’ chemistry. Rapid acidification means that the pH level of the planet’s oceans will fall by 0.4 between 2010 and the year 2100 which represents a three-fold increase in the mean acidity of seawater that is unprecedented in 20-million years, notes Science Daily.

Such a precipitous drop in the pH level has profound implications for “calcifying organisms” in that a reduction of the seawater pH level severely inhibits the ability of “calcifying organisms” to generate the protective covering that they require for survival. Moreover, states Science Daily, pelagic (open ocean) marine mollusks and deep-water coral species, which play indispensable roles in their individual ecosystems, live in areas that will be most adversely affected by acidification. The putting in danger of these two types of marine life, alone, imperil oceanic food chains that are central to the survival of a number of marine species.

An important representative of the Arctic marine ecosystem, such as the Limacina helicina (one type of mollusk), is also put at great risk by acidification, and consequent drop in pH level, because the organism’s ability to form its protective shell is slowed by a factor of 30%, says Science Daily. This is especially alarming given that the diversity of the arctic food chain is very narrow and the endangerment of even one species is very alarming indeed.

The rapidly escalating level of ocean acidification is intimately linked to the steadily growing amount of CO2 in the earth’s atmosphere. The nations of the world must move with alacrity to reduce the level of carbon dioxide in the skies by moving very steadily away from fossil fuels and lessening our eco-systemic footprint to the greatest degree possible. For more information on this topic please visit the following web site: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090915101359.htm