Ocean Acidification

By Anonymous -

Ocean Acidification

By: Brayden Burns, Cecilia Vela, and Tyler Souza

Many issues that humanity currently faces: war, healthcare, political/social strife, drought and crop failure extend back past the advent of written history. However, novel, systemic issues unknown to mankind prior to the industrial revolution have reared their ugly heads. One such issue is the slow, undeniable acidification of the world's oceans. According to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) carbon dioxide emission levels derived from man-made sources are a major contributing factor to current acid levels in the ocean.
Carbon Dioxide going into solution
http://diveadvisor.com/sub2o/ocean-acidification-causes-and-consequences




NOAA estimates that roughly ¼ of the CO2 released into the atmosphere every year is dissolved by marine systems. Scientists, who were originally optimistic about the oceans service as a Carbon bank, are now forced to re-interpret their former theories (1). According to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, the Ocean has Absorbed 525 billion tons of Carbon dioxide (22 million tons per day) since industrialization. In the last 200 years dissolved CO2 has caused the oceans to become roughly 30% more acidic than they were prior to the 19th century (2). These underlying chemistry and physics that are being manipulated can have dramatic effects on some organisms.
Ocean Acidification ploted against time
http://anthropocene.info/great-acceleration.php


This dissolved CO2 that seeps into the oceans acts as an acid and has been effectively lowering the pH of the ocean. The surface pH of the ocean has already fallen from a pre-industrial value of 8.16 to 8.04 today (3). Without changes in our activities, the pH could be 7.8 or lower by 2100. For various marine organisms, extra dissolved CO2 requires greater energy expenditure to maintain proper intracellular pH, reduces fertility, thwarts larval development, reduces growth rate, interferes with iron uptake, reduces muscle mass, suppresses the immune system, and in worst cases even kills some species. Continued burning of fossil fuels also threatens sea life by the dissolution of their shells and skeletons. The shells and skeletons of marine organisms such as plankton and coral are made of calcium carbonate. Dissolved CO2 consumes carbonate by the following reaction:

CO2(aq) + H2O + CO32- → 2HCO3-

Low carbonate concentration promotes dissolution of solid calcium carbonate, as seen by the following equilibrium reaction:

CaCO3(s) ↔ Ca2+ + CO32-

According to Le Chatelier’s principle in chemistry, the decreasing carbonate concentration [CO32-] draws the reaction to the right. In other words, if the ocean carbonate concentration decreases enough, organisms such as plankton and coral with CaCO3 shells or skeletons will have to give up the carbonate in their shells and skeletons to keep the oceans in equilibrium, a process by which they will not survive.

Shells, which are comprised of mostly CaCO3 dissolve in acid mediums.
http://ocean.si.edu/ocean-acidification

The effects of ocean acidification are having effects on organisms vital to ocean life. The most extreme case might be with coral reefs and the bleaching that occurs in response to stress (3). A 50% reduction in coral reefs has already been seen, deforestation levels while staggering are happening at rates only half as fast that of coral bleaching (4). This has extreme consequences due to the amount of ocean life that coral reefs support. Ocean acidification has been studied to have a strong impact on both productivity of coral reefs and the bleaching process (4). Just like increased temperatures, acidification affects the photosynthesis in coral reefs (4). This leads coral to loose their intracellular endosymbionts (zooxanthellae) which is what gives them their color and so bleaching occurs. Overall the effects of acidification are causing increasingly more harm and are not predicted to decline or slow down anytime in our near future.


Citations:


1.) Ocean Acidification, www.pmel.noaa.gov/co2/story/Ocean Acidification.

2.) Waters, Hannah. “Ocean Acidification.” Ocean Portal | Smithsonian, Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, 27 Dec. 2017, ocean.si.edu/ocean-acidification.

3.) Harris, Daniel C., 1948-. Solutions Manual for Exploring Chemical Analysis, Fifth Edition. New York :W. H. Freeman, 2012. Print.

4.) Ocean Acidification: Causes and Consequences. http://diveadvisor.com/sub2o/ocean-acidification-causes-and-consequences

5.) Anthony, K. R. N., et al. “Ocean acidification causes bleaching and productivity loss in coral reef builders.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, 11 Nov. 2008, www.pnas.org/content/105/45/17442.full.

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