All of us know that oceans are the largest natural carbon sinks. They absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and bury it under the deep sea floor. Since industrial revolution, around half of the carbon dioxide produced by humans has dissolved into the world’s oceans adversely affecting marine life, a recent study on ocean’s role as carbon sinks found.
The oceans are performing a great service to humankind by removing this carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The problem is that this service has potential consequences for the biology and ecosystem structure of the oceans,
said Christopher Sabine, a geophysicist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle, Washington.
No doubt, the absorption of carbon dioxide by oceans has helped reduce global warming to some extent, yet the greenhouse trap within the water bodies has endangered the life of oceanic species. Carbon dioxide released by fossil fuel combustion has increased acidity levels of the ocean by 30 percent. At present, this is about 2 billion tons of gas each year. As this gas dissolves, it sets off a chemical reaction that produces carbonic acid.
This increase in acidity makes it difficult for shell-forming animals such as corals, mollusks, tiny planktons and some algae to amass carbonate ions from the seawater to form their calcium carbonate shells. The rate at which these organisms can form shells could be reduced by as much as a 25 to 45 percent. Moreover, many of these species form key links in the aquatic food chain which if once disrupted will destroy marine life.
We have significant changes in chemistry. And if we project over time … we are talking about massive changes that will take place,
said Richard Feely, a Seattle-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration oceanographer who helped to organize the conference.
The severest effect of such a change has been seen on the North Pacific, which has absorbed more carbon dioxide than tropical oceans because it is colder than tropical oceans, which enables it to absorb more carbon. While at some areas of the North Pacific at depths ranging from 300 to 1,000 feet a kind of saturation point where acidity causes shells to disintegrate faster than they can grow has been detected. And by the end of this century, these North Pacific saturation zones are expected to swell and expand into much shallower waters. This has a disastrous effect on the marine life.
The once carbon sinks are themselves becoming increasingly susceptible to it. It is high time; we worked on a solution of such a grave problem that will not only affect us but also effect ocean chemistry. Live and let others Live should be the motto.
image
via:SEATTLETIMES