Ocean Acidification -- can you see it happening?

[tarponchik]

Bwuahahaha lol, lol, hahaha....

And that's as nice as I can be. Might want to read what NASA said about global warming this week.

Temp change is cyclical.

Ocean acidification and global warming are unrelated. While the former is the consequence of more CO2 in the air and water, the latter is believed to be the consequence of more CO2 in the air and water. You can argue against warming all you want (it is cyclical, it does not happen, etc) but you can't argue against acidification because you can measure it directly.

 

[tarponchik]

There is too much buffering capacity in the ocean. The oceans also sit on gigatons of carbonate rocks such as limestone and dolomite.

Problem is, CO2 from the air dissolves in ocean waters much faster than rocks.

 

[CuzzA]

Sure. The dead coral is most often due to bleaching, which has a primary cause increasing ocean temperatures, often exacerbated by nutrients. Bleaching means the algae living symbiotically in the coral tissue (zoozanthelle) are expelled by the coral as not doing their job. Their job, as plants, is to take up the sunlight and produce O2 for the coral animal, which in turn outputs nutrient for the algae. Symbiosis; they need each other. Increasing temperatures harms this delicate balance, and the coral animal's survival strategy is to expel its zoozanthelle and hope some better, hardier stuff comes floating through the water that it can pick up and live with. It only has days or a week or two to live this way, then it dies. See for more info: coral bleaching | Definition, Causes, Consequences, & Facts.
Ocean acidification has to do with the changing pH balance of the seawater, dwhich is normal slightly basic, but shifts toward more acidic as more an more CO2 gets dissolved in the ocean. The consequence is an inability of the little crustaceans, for example, to form calcium carbonate shells. See for more info: ocean acidification | Definition, Causes, Effects, Chemistry, & Facts.

FWIW, you have it reversed. The coral bleaching/dying off Florida is largely due to nutrients, pollution and human waste being dumped into the ocean. It is exacerbated by warming temperatures. This has been studied. The bacteria from human **** kills corals.

I can also put this on a micro scale to verify. If I raise the temps for a long period of time in a reef tank, the corals won't be happy, but will generally be okay. If I raise the nutrients, they will die.

In terms of co2, this can also be tested very easily in a controlled system and related to the ocean. In aquaria ph is always a battle because our homes and buildings have high co2 from the people breathing in a confined space. Open your windows or hook your protein skimmer air intake up to the outside and you'll see your ph jump and normalize.

It will all come to ahead here eventually and there's going to be pain in the transition. Of course we could also get hit by an asteroid next month and all this banter will seem inconsequential.

 

[chillyinCanada]

I have no doubt that climate change is occurring. My doubt is how much we could do to change it and how much is truly anthropogenic. Another concern is how is it measured because that keeps changing.

Regardless, the glaciers are melting, I have seen that with my own eyes.

Of course, looking out my window today at weather, not climate. . .sigh

12-15 inches of the fluffy white stuff and it's still coming down.

 

[tursiops]

FWIW, you have it reversed. The coral bleaching/dying off Florida is largely due to nutrients, pollution and human waste being dumped into the ocean. It is exacerbated by warming temperatures. This has been studied. The bacteria from human **** kills corals.

Yes, it has been studied. and there is no consensus in general, just in specific locations. There is not a lot of human waste on the Great Barrier Reef, for example, but there is a lot of dead coral....and warming waters.

 

[DBPacific]

Cold temperatures will also bleach corals. Bleaching is just a stress response and can be caused by a lot of different things and typically multiple things at once.

 

[Diver below 83]

While the massive bleaching that’s happening here in south Florida isn’t related to the acidification it is directly related to the steadily rising temperatures. Which is attributed to global warming.

 

[chillyinCanada]

New Research Suggests Some Climate Data May Be Tainted

 

[tursiops]

New Research Suggests Some Climate Data May Be Tainted

Claim of no US warming since 2005 is directly contradicted by the data it is based on

You might want to go back to what the NOAA data actually says, rather than what the Heartland Institute claims it says.

 

[chillyinCanada]

‘Hidden’ NOAA temperature data reveals that 6 of the last 9 months were below normal in the USA – and NOAA can’t even get June right