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<font face="Comic Sans MS">Since Nick's piece, with a sentence or so
about "coral", I have been following<br>
the ensuing discussion regarding ocean acidification and coral.<br>
<br>
But I am puzzled.<br>
<br>
Maybe that's because I am not on top of the changing views of "science"<br>
about the dangers of ocean acidification, caused by carbon dioxide
increasingly<br>
dissolving into oceans' waters, from an increasing concentration of
carbon<br>
dioxide in the atmosphere [anthropogenic or not].<br>
<br>
I thought -- until recently at least -- that the concern for coral, and
for shellfish<br>
at large, was that the chemical shift to increasing acidity in the
oceans was feared<br>
to dissolve the shells of some shellfish and perhaps even prevent
formation of <br>
shells in other shellfish trying to live. <br>
<br>
E.g., some or many shellfish could be put out of existence, "screwing
up" some<br>
ecological food chains as well as sources for human food. These are not
small<br>
matters!<br>
<br>
Am I off base? Has that concern gone away and/or shown to be false
alarms?<br>
<br>
Or are Nick and the ensuing discussants in particular just choosing to
focus<br>
on whether coral is/are participants in chemical balance repositioning
among<br>
atmospheric, oceanic, and coral carbon?<br>
<br>
Sam Scripter<br>
</font><br>
Ted Moffett wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:AANLkTinojNJVt-a3HjyA+c4bFsp+st3um--P21wQzCqk@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Thanks for the response to my question from the post which can be read
in full at the website below, which will offer more context:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/2010-December/073255.html">http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/2010-December/073255.html</a>
--------------------------
I have found credible scientific information that relates to my
question regarding coral reefs lowering ocean water acidity, though
this information does not address coral reef calcium carbonate
formation effects on ocean water acidity. It addresses the
dissolution of calcium carbonate in the oceans, lowering ocean
acidity. Calcium carbonate is a treatment for acid stomach. But this
process in the oceans is too slow to stop increasing ocean
acidification from billions of tons of human CO2 emissions:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.elcamino.edu/faculty/tnoyes/Readings/10DR.pdf">http://www.elcamino.edu/faculty/tnoyes/Readings/10DR.pdf</a>
>From website above:
"Recall that additional carbon dioxide makes ocean water acidic, and
that the acid dissolves calcium carbonate ...this neutralizes the acid
(the carbonate absorbs it). ...coral are said to "buffer" the ocean."
This academic source also states "...corals 'permanently' remove CO2
from the atmosphere by building their reefs" a statement that could be
used to conclude that coral reefs are in total atmospheric CO2 sinks,
which is disputed.
------------------------
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.whoi.edu/OCB-OA/FAQs/">http://www.whoi.edu/OCB-OA/FAQs/</a>
>From website above:
As the oceans become more acidic, more calcium carbonate minerals
underwater will dissolve. Will that offset ocean acidification?
The dissolution of calcium carbonate minerals in the water column and
in the sediments does increase the alkalinity of seawater, which
offsets the decreased pH and carbonate ion concentrations associated
with ocean acidification. However, as with rock weathering, this
process is slow and would take thousands to tens of thousands of years
to neutralize all of the CO2 from human activity that is entering the
oceans. Over the decades to centuries that affect human communities,
these processes are not fast enough to counteract CO2 invasion into
the ocean, and so the chemical changes associated with ocean
acidification will last for several centuries. — Richard A. Feely,
Senior Scientist, NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, USA
------------------------------------------
Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett
On 12/17/10, Andreas Schou <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:ophite@gmail.com"><ophite@gmail.com></a> wrote:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Now I wonder, if coral reefs remove carbon from ocean water, do they
help to lower ocean water accidification from human sourced CO2
emissions?
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap="">
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
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap="">
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</pre>
</blockquote>
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