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Ocean Health – Is there an “Acidification” problem? (Does CO2 make the Oceans Acid?)
submitted 3 years ago by zyxzevn from self.ClimateSkeptics
Answer: The oceans will not become acidic -- CO2 enriches the ocean food web See: paper by the CO2 coalition (pdf)
As of this writing, there is no unequivocal evidence to suggest that the oceans have been undergoing a drop in pH due to rising atmospheric CO2. It cannot be assumed that CO2 diffusing into surface waters only embarks on the inorganic pathway. More likely, CO2 will be quickly consumed by photosynthesizing bacteria, plankton and algae. The transformation of CO2 into organic carbon means that CO2 will not affect ocean pH for hours to millennia, depending how that organic matter travels through the food-web. Reliable measurements of ocean pH only began over the last 30 years. Science will need at least 30 more years of observations before natural ocean pH variability can be distinguished from any effects from increasing atmospheric CO2. Concurrent with the rise in atmospheric CO2, there has been an increase in ocean upwelling that brings ancient carbon and nutrients to the surface. There has also been an increase in ocean productivity, transforming CO2 into organic carbon. Greater productivity allows more organic carbon to be exported to depths where it can be sequestered for hundreds to thousands of years. It is highly likely that the recent increased productivity and increased sequestration of carbon has offset any pH effects from added atmospheric CO2. That hypothesis needs to be thoroughly tested in order to better predict changes in ocean pH. Modelling efforts to date are woefully incomplete. IPCC models do not consider the effects of ocean productivity, and calculations of anthropogenic CO2 in ocean surface waters fail to account for upwelling of ancient DIC.
As of this writing, there is no unequivocal evidence to suggest that the oceans have been undergoing a drop in pH due to rising atmospheric CO2. It cannot be assumed that CO2 diffusing into surface waters only embarks on the inorganic pathway. More likely, CO2 will be quickly consumed by photosynthesizing bacteria, plankton and algae. The transformation of CO2 into organic carbon means that CO2 will not affect ocean pH for hours to millennia, depending how that organic matter travels through the food-web. Reliable measurements of ocean pH only began over the last 30 years. Science will need at least 30 more years of observations before natural ocean pH variability can be distinguished from any effects from increasing atmospheric CO2.
Concurrent with the rise in atmospheric CO2, there has been an increase in ocean upwelling that brings ancient carbon and nutrients to the surface. There has also been an increase in ocean productivity, transforming CO2 into organic carbon. Greater productivity allows more organic carbon to be exported to depths where it can be sequestered for hundreds to thousands of years. It is highly likely that the recent increased productivity and increased sequestration of carbon has offset any pH effects from added atmospheric CO2. That hypothesis needs to be thoroughly tested in order to better predict changes in ocean pH. Modelling efforts to date are woefully incomplete. IPCC models do not consider the effects of ocean productivity, and calculations of anthropogenic CO2 in ocean surface waters fail to account for upwelling of ancient DIC.
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there doesn't seem to be anything here