Ocean Acidification
What Is It?
Ocean acidification is one of the effects of climate change on the ocean, it affects all parts of the ocean, mostly the organisms that are allowed to nourish in the waters; the main cause of ocean acidification is the absorption of carbon dioxide by diffusion or photosynthesis through algae and plankton. Given that CO2 is the most abundant greenhouse gas on Earth, it is the most harmful thing that is going into the ocean on a daily basis.
Ocean acidification is the pH of the ocean water decreasing, although the decrease in pH is generally small, when you think about the ocean as a whole covering the entire world, it is a huge detrimental change to ecosystems and organism livelihood. In a way, the ocean absorbing CO2 is healthy for the health of the Earth because it decreases the global temperature through CO2 concentration in the atmosphere, too much leading to sea level rise, shifting weather patterns, and more extreme weather events.
Coral Affected By Ocean Acidification
Ocean Acidification and its Affects
via American Geosciences Institute
Prior to the Industrial Revolution, the average ocean pH was about 8.2 - 8.3, now it averages about 8.1, as stated prior, this does not seem like a big difference until you realize this is the scope of the whole ocean around the world, with such a huge body of what you realize the abundance of CO2 being absorbed to change the pH. What are the actual affects of acidification on ecosystems?
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One major effect happens in organisms that build / use shell like structure, like mollusks or corals; these organisms use the chemical reactions of the ocean through the water rich with CO2, what they need the most is calcium carbonate to keep themselves strong, however the abundance of CO2 makes it so the carbonate chemical is not prevalent as much in the chemical reaction that makes their calcium carbonate. This lack of calcium carbonate weakens their shells, and it slowly dissolves their shells with continued exposure, corals eroding easily due to this weakened exo-skeleton.
Sources:
Coastadapt. (n.d.). Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://coastadapt.com.au/ocean-acidification-and-its-effects.
Environmental Protection Agency. (n.d.). EPA. Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-ocean-acidity.
Environmental Protection Agency. (n.d.). EPA. Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://www.epa.gov/ocean-acidification/understanding-science-ocean-and-coastal-acidification.
Ocean acidification - woods hole oceanographic institution. (n.d.). Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://www.whoi.edu/know-your-ocean/ocean-topics/ocean-chemistry/ocean-acidification/.
Ocean acidification causing coral ‘osteoporosis’ on iconic ... (n.d.). Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://www.whoi.edu/press-room/whoi-in-the-news/ocean-acidification-causing-coral-osteoporosis-on-iconic-reefs/.
Ocean acidification. Ocean acidification | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (n.d.). Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://www.noaa.gov/education/resource-collections/ocean-coasts/ocean-acidification.
The Future for Ocean Acidification
The future of the ocean’s pH is very grim, if the continued exposure to CO2 expands, as it shows to be as it has been 10x greater in the past decades, the pH could reach as low as 7.8 by the end of the century. This grave damage to shell fish, corals and mollusks affects a whole ecosystem, the damage to prospering coral reefs is detrimental to those that live in these reefs and need the reefs as forms of protection, an example of trophic cascade by affecting the bottom of the chain that others rely on.
