Ocean Acidification Essay

Ocean acidification

The oceans take up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and are responsible for absorbing around a third of the carbon dioxide roughly 22 million tons a day emitted by fossil fuel burning, deforestation, and cement production since the industrial revolution (Sabine et al. 2004). While this is beneficial in terms of limiting the rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and hence greenhouse warming due to this carbon dioxide, there are direct consequences for ocean chemistry. Ocean acidification describes the lowering of seawater pH and carbonate saturation that result from increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. There are also indirect and potentially adverse biological and ecological consequences of

Human activities such as combustion of fossil fuels, deforestation and land use change led to add up new flux of carbon dioxide into atmosphere. In addition, adding up more carbon to atmosphere lead to disrupt all other parts of carbon cycle. So due to more carbon in atmosphere and it start sinking in ocean. Diagram of carbon cycle is shown in appendix A.

Biological impact of ocean acidification

Ocean acidification is influencing ocean species to different degrees. Such as

Plant and algae

Algae and sea grasses, which depend on carbon dioxide and sun light for their raw material for their food, will have great benefits because of the large amount of dissolved carbon dioxide in the oceans, which led them to make more food and leave oxygen in ocean.

Coral reefs

Coral reef is buildup with calcium carbonate and it provide habitat to many other organisms. Acidification will limit the coral growth by corroding them. . increasing temperature combined with the acidity levels expected by the end of this century proved lethal for coral reefs which are very sensitive to pH and temperature.

Everyone thinks that each individual cannot do anything about it but we can control it by doing several thing in everyday life such as planting trees, as it is well know that vegetation is good carbon sinker. And try to recycle, turning off unused lights, walking or biking instead of driving everywhere or using public transportation and supporting clean energy such as solar and wind energy. Most important thing is educate people around us because of them do not even know what is happening around us and how it will affect our earth. All nations need to come together too because every country pumping carbon in atmosphere as it talked above one carbon cycle one part get disrupted whole entire cycle have dramatic effects on them. So ones all nations have to help reducing carbon it will be helpful because everyone knows about carbon and its affects in atmosphere as it acts as green house gas and change ocean chemistry. Iron fertilization is another possible solution in which phytoplankton will convert the ocean dissolved carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and oxygen