[Vision2020] Clarification: Re: Coral Reefs: CO2 Source or Sink? Re: Four Levels of Global Warming: A Climate Change Update

[Andreas Schou]

> Now I wonder, if coral reefs remove carbon from ocean water, do they
> help to lower ocean water accidification from human sourced CO2
> emissions?

Not really. Coral reefs remove carbon from ocean water by constructing
their calcium carbonate exoskeletons; calcium ions, rather than
carbonate ions, create a bottleneck w/r/t how much carbon they can
remove.

-- ACS