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The Best Science Writing Online 2012
Showcasing more than fifty of the most provocative, original, and significant online essays from 2011, The Best Science Writing Online 2012 will change the way...
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The oceans control climate change. Not only do the world's waters absorb the bulk of the extra heat trapped by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, they also absorb the bulk of the extra carbon dioxide. And that means one thing: a more acid ocean.
New research shows that while some shell-forming sea critters, like lobsters, will actually build thicker shells in a more acid ocean, clams and oysters, among others, have shells that partially dissolved under the new conditions. And tiny creatures known as foramnifera are already building less thick shells as a result of a drop in ocean pH from 8.2 to 8.1 over the course of the last century. That tenth of a point on the logarithmic pH scale actually means a roughly 30 percent increase in acidity.
Warmer water also takes up more space. That's led to sea level rise of 17 centimeters over the 20th century, enough to erode or submerge some 60 extra feet of beach on the U.S. East Coast.
Nothing agreed in Copenhagen or hereafter will be able to stop either this thermal expansion of the seas or the rising acidity of the waters. That would take actually reducing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, perhaps through devices to pull it out of the air.
Already, human impacts on the ocean are large, from spurring jellyfish to dominate to boosting algae blooms and dead zones. The Baltic Sea that Copenhagen guards is the world's largest such dead zone. With water, water everywhere, perhaps it's time to think.
—David Biello
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9 Comments
Add CommentFalse science
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"False Science" - the work of thousands of independent people, in many countries over many years - reduces by an anonymous poster in two words?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt is easy not to take deniers like you seriously - so inarticulate and unscientific. I suggest you take some remedial courses.
Really, a conspiracy THAT large would make the JFK conspiracy theorists look like rank amateurs.
In addition, when the opposition is reduced to crimes to "argue" their point they must be desperate.
Let's see deniers release ALL of their private emails - for a balanced view.
The jury is not out on this issue, dhisrael, there is no mystery to the unprecedented impact that our species has on the Earths ecosystems.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt has been demonstrated without doubt that treading lightly in the presence of nature is not one of the human species strong suits.
There is not one chemist that will tell you that CO2 is not a green house gas or that the average two car family contributes tones of the stuff each year; to say nothing of industry.
There is not one astrophysicist that will tell you that anything other than the vast quantities of energy trapping gas is to blame for the dense and broiling atmosphere on Venus.
It would be naive of us to expect a "negative feedback" loop that will save us from our arrogance and ignorance if we were to continue on our current course. You may be counting on some type of saviour on your flat earth, but I am much more sober in my reasoning than that. Risk taking is not my strong suite. The impact is observable.
There is no place in the Earth's current atmosphere for additional CO2 that would not otherwise be here. There are no dense forests comparable to the past that can buffer the increase - where have they gone, dhisrael? More false science?
In the end, dhisrael, there will be article after article, confirming our species' impact on this
planet. And opinions such as yours, increasingly in contrast to the wealth of observable data, will always be present to make things interesting.
Pure water has a PH of 7. Saying that the oceans went from slightly basic PH of 8.2, to slightly less basic, PH 8.1 means that it's slightly closer to being neutral. Yes that means being more acidic, but any PH values above 7 are basic solutions. Any PH values below 7 are considered acidic. Moving down the scale means becoming more acidic; moving up, more basic.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSo, I ask, where's the fire. Is it so bad that the ocean is becoming a tad less basic?
See for yourself at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PH.
Oh my God! 60 feet of beach has disappeared. We must spend trillions to avoid losing any more beach!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere has been an ongoing campaign by "naysayers" to try to sabotage every discussion on climate change on the web. They seem like idiots blindly marching for bigger idiots who think they have something to lose in establishing climate regulations.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere is certainly much more to lose that "beach". An acidic ocean means no seafood and corroding ships. Salt water influx means less ground water and less agriculture land.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMore than 50% of USA energy use is for transport. President Bush jr expected that technologies will succeed in reducing CO2 emissions; there are already existing technologies, such as propfan or sleeve-valve engines, plus more efficient insulation and energy-efficient production processes than can acomplish most of the task, if the regulatory environment is friendly. As times go by, unexpected techniques will be for sure developed
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs temperature increases, oceans will reduce its capacity to absorb greenhouse effect gases, and then they will start releasing these gases from the pool previously absorbed. There is probably an absolute limit in the possible amount of CO2 absorbed, and in the trend to have more acidic oceans, that for sure many people are able to simulate and predict
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