The Ocean's Acid Test: Will we pass?
With the increasingly warming world, the ocean has been giving us warning. The Ocean is acidifying at the most rapid rate in human history, threatening the world’s marine ecosystems. Will we survive through this ocean’s acid test, or is a drastic catastrophe going to happen? Let’s explore the chemistry of the ocean from the past to begin with……
Wednesday 25 January 2012
Latest news about the ocean's acid test
Although this blog has already been formally assessed, I still want to share this latest news about the ocean's acid test on the BBC with you. Ocean acidification is finally on policy maker's international political agenda! Its mitigation strategies will be heavily discussed in the upcoming Rio 20+ summit in June. Looking forward to seeing the changes and initiatives that world makers are trying to make and to create a better future for our oceans. Hopefully it won't be another failure like Durban, Copenhagen or Kyoto climate talks....
Wednesday 11 January 2012
Concluding Remarks
This blog is finally coming to an end :-(! In the past three months, I truly
learnt a lot and thoroughly enjoyed maintaining this blog, and I hope you enjoy
reading it too!
Through looking into the ocean’s acid test challenge from the past through
to the present and the future, it is interesting to see how the ocean and
marine organisms especially corals and calcifiers respond to the ever-changing
environment, especially in the anthropogenic era. The power of
paleooceanography has let us explore the ocean’s historical carbonate chemistry,
such as the catastrophic Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) and predict
its ability to buffer the increased acidity caused by rising atmospheric CO2.
Here are my main findings about the ocean’s acid test:
1. Ocean
acidification is about rate of change
The negative impacts and severity of ocean
acidification is not necessarily about the levels of pH but the rate of pH
decline. The most worrying fact about this ocean acidification phenomenon is
the rate of pH decline in less than 300 years during the Anthropogenic Era,
much less than any geological period in the past (normally it takes at least 100,000
years for oceanic pH to recover).
2. Uncertainty
Uncertainty exists in every aspect of this ocean acidification analysis, from paleo-proxy records, response of marine ecosystems especially marine calcifers, to modelling and ocean iron fertilisation technology. Unfortunately, uncertainty always exists in any scientific analysis and it certainly hinders the accuracy and reliability of future projections. Proxy records of much higher spatial and temporal resolutions are probably needed to produce more accurate projections in the future.
Uncertainty exists in every aspect of this ocean acidification analysis, from paleo-proxy records, response of marine ecosystems especially marine calcifers, to modelling and ocean iron fertilisation technology. Unfortunately, uncertainty always exists in any scientific analysis and it certainly hinders the accuracy and reliability of future projections. Proxy records of much higher spatial and temporal resolutions are probably needed to produce more accurate projections in the future.
3. Ocean acidification is a very localised problem
As we can see from the PETM event, IPCC Scenario model projections and my recent posts about ocean acidification ‘hotspots’, oceanic pH varies considerably in both global and regional scale. For instance, oceanic pH is generally lower across low latitudes and in coastal regions. This spatial variability is likely to be intensified in the future.
As we can see from the PETM event, IPCC Scenario model projections and my recent posts about ocean acidification ‘hotspots’, oceanic pH varies considerably in both global and regional scale. For instance, oceanic pH is generally lower across low latitudes and in coastal regions. This spatial variability is likely to be intensified in the future.
4. Ocean acidification is subject to very
contentious debate
Ocean acidification is not necessarily a detrimental phenomenon according
to the ‘norm’. Ocean acidification skeptics have found numerous scientific
evidences proofing that our oceans are extreme well buffers and indicating positive
effects of ocean acidification to some marine organisms.
Having researched and investigated around the subject, it has certainly
challenged my previous perception about the ocean’s acid test. I remember back
in secondary school days, my chemistry teacher has explained to us the negative
effects of too much carbonic acid in the oceans. A lot of the media reports tend
to convince us about how ‘alarming’ this phenomenon would be. However, through
looking into the different scientific evidences from various proxy records and
the debates around the subject by many oceanographers, I now understand more
about the mechanisms behind the oceanic buffer system and how the ocean has
responded to past global environmental changes e.g. the vast amount of carbon
input into the deep ocean during PETM. More importantly, I found it very
interesting to see the debates and arguments from different scientists (‘pessimistists’
Vs ‘optimistists’) around the same subject matter with new data and scientific
evidences. It is truly a constantly changing and evolving subject. Therefore, I
believe that paleoceanography is indeed a very powerful tool to increase our
understanding about our oceans and it has a tremendous potential to help us in
future decision-making on ocean acidification mitigation strategies.
Last but not the least, back to this blog’s ultimate question: Will we pass
the ocean’s acid test? There is indeed no simple answer to this question. If
you take the pessimistic point of view, we might not be able to pass based on
the already decreasing number of corals and marine calcifiers in the ocean and
the failures of international agreement in reducing global CO2 emissions. Or,
the optimistic skeptics are right; the oceans are extremely well buffers!
Whatever you choose to believe, there are always uncertainties embedded in this
subject, in both scientific and political perspectives. More research in the
future is probably needed to draw us closer to a definite answer.
Thank you for reading my blog once again and I wish you all have a great
year ahead!
Monday 9 January 2012
Nitrogen as the source of acidification threats to coastal ecoystems
Intensified acidification in coasts and estuarines |
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