CO2 Emissions Causing ‘Unprecedented’ Ocean Acidification
The rate at which the world’s oceans are acidifying is “unprecedented,” scientists warn in a new report.
Too much acid in the ocean is bad news for sea life. Acid eats away at calcium carbonite, the primary ingredient of shells and skeletons that many ocean animals depend on for survival. The shell pictured here is a victim of this process. The normally-protective shell is so thin and fragile, it is transparent. (Caption & photo: NOAA’s National Ocean Service) The rate may be faster than at any time in the last 300 million years, they say.
The report, which will be launched Monday at the UN climate talks in Warsaw, is based on research presented by over 500 international experts on ocean acidification who convened at The Third Symposium on the Ocean in a High CO2 World in September 2012.
According to their summary of findings, human-caused CO2 emissions have already caused a 26 percent-increase in ocean acidification since the start of the Industrial Revolution. If current rates of CO2 emissions continue, the report projects a 170 percent-increase in acidity levels by 2100.
The report states that “The most comparable event 55 million years ago was linked to mass extinctions of calcareous deep-sea organisms and significant changes to the surface ocean ecosystem. At that time, though the rate of change of ocean pH was rapid, it may have been 10 times slower than current change.”
With increased acidification, the scientists predict “far-reaching effects.” Ecologically and commercially valuable species like coral communities and mollusks are likely to suffer, and that bring “cascading” effects, some of which are already noticeable.
Prof Jean-Pierre Gattuso, from CNRS, the French national research agency, told the BBC, “In the Southern Ocean, we already see corrosion of pteropods which are like sea snails, in the ocean we see corrosion of the shell.”
“They are a key component in the food chain, they are eaten by fish, birds and whales, so if one element is going then there is a cascading impact on the whole food chain,” Gattuso said.
Among the findings the scientists agreed on with very high levels of confidence: “The legacy of historical fossil fuel emissions on ocean acidification will be felt for centuries.”
“What we can now say with high levels of confidence about ocean acidification sends a clear message,” one of the lead authors, Ulf Riebesell of GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, said in a statement. “Globally we have to be prepared for significant economic and ecosystem service losses. But we also know that reducing the rate of carbon dioxide emissions will slow acidification. That has to be the major message for the COP19 meeting.”
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Source: Common Dreams
Source: http://rinf.com/alt-news/breaking-news/co2-emissions-causing-unprecedented-ocean-acidification/
Ya ok…so climate change isn’t working…ie global warming…it has hit it’s dead end…even tho news and politics say it’s still viable…
So now they are going after ocean acidification…yes..human caused but not society’s idea..
Want to place blame…how about EPA that allows the distribution of literal feces into our waters and oceans.
Or chemicals plants leaking into the aquifers , which in turn dump into oceans through other rivers and streams.
Or how about the most probable…fukashima … Lets see…rotting ocean life…would that create acid? As the human body produces volatile chemicals upon death.
Or how about the chemtrails? What goes up must come down…are they poisoning our water to shift a climate that has not risen in a few years?
Or how about the island of trash that is floating in the pacific? Size of Texas ?! Now there’s a new one from fukashima ….
Or, what about the oil in the gulf? Or what about….can I keep going…yes, should I?
No…it is probably a combination of several issues currently not being discussed in public eye….
Why is that? They want to make carbon laws…like money is going to help our air quality, but refuse to talk openly about things we can do to make real changes….for cleaning up the mess of corporations dumping huge amounts of crud on our planet daily for years….
Taxis will cure our planet….not work