Beam me to Planet Gore !
Posted on 01/11/2011 6:36:04 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Guest Post by David Middleton
Introduction
As global warming morphs into climate change and global climate disruption and anthropogenic CO2 emissions give way to stochastic variability, clouds, the Sun, cosmic rays and our oceans as the primary drivers of climate change, environmental extremists are raising a new CO2-driven ecological disaster scenario to hysterical levels: Ocean acidification. Claims have been made that oceanic pH levels have declined from ~8.2 to ~8.1 since the mid-1700′s. This pH decline (acidification) has been attributed to anthropogenic CO2 emissions – This should come as no surprise because the pH estimates are largely derived from atmospheric CO2 concentrations (Orr et al., 2005). It has also been postulated that anthropogenic CO2 emissions will force an additional 0.7 unit decline in oceanic pH by the year 2100 (Caldeira et al., 2003).
Alarmist organizations like the National Resources Defense Council are hard at work extrapolating these oceanic pH model predictions into ecological nightmares…
Scientists predict the Arctic will become corrosive to some shelled organisms within a few decades, and the Antarctic by mid-century. This is pure chemistry; the vagaries of climate do not apply to this forecast.
OA is expected to impact commercial fisheries worldwide, threatening a food source for hundreds of millions of people as well as a multi-billion dollar industry. In the United States alone, ocean-related tourism, recreation and fishing are responsible for more than 2 million jobs.
Shellfish will be affected directly, thus impacting finfish who feed on them. For example, pteropods—tiny marine snails that are particularly sensitive to rises in acidity— comprise 60 percent of the diet for Alaska’s juvenile pink salmon. And this affects diets farther up the food chain, as a diminished salmon population would lead to less fish on our tables.
Coral reefs will be especially hard hit by ocean acidification. As ocean acidity rises, corals will begin to erode faster than they can grow, and reef structures will be lost worldwide. Scientists predict that by the time atmospheric CO2 reaches 560 parts per million (a level which could happen which could happen by mid-century; we are currently nearing 400 ppm), coral reefs will cease to grow and even begin to dissolve. Areas that depend on healthy coral reefs for food, shoreline protection, and lucrative tourism industries will be profoundly impacted by their loss.
This sounds like a serious threat… As have all of the other alarmist clarion calls to halt capitalism in the name of the most recent environmental cause célèbre. Just to be fair, before pitching Ocean Acidification into the dustbin of junk science along with Anthropogenic Global Warming, let’s look at the science.
The answers to the following questions will tell us whether or not CO2-driven ocean acidification is a genuine scientific concern:
This is an EXCERPT of a Lengthy article
****************************************************
But we have the same old villain....CO2
I suspect they will get their needed research Grants....
fyi
Since 7.0 is neutral on the pH scale, going from 8.2 to 8.1 really shouldn’t be called acidification.
If it’s happening, it’s a case of the ocean becoming slightly less alkaline, not more acidic.
Since the pH scale wasn’t invented till the 20th century, I doubt anybody made measurements in the 17th,
I know paleoclimatologists call past periods of warming "optimums."
Uh...they (the UN) just want some money...the scientists just want the grants....
Well...guess we should have someone do a study on that....
I’d rather see a study of what potential damage arises from excessive use of road salt as it works its way to the oceans.
Gas bubbles trapped in late Cretaceous amber prove that CO2 levels back then were over ten times higher than present.
The Late Cretaceous was a time of teeming coral reefs and extensive limestone deposits, the white cliffs of Dover were formed then.
In fact, 'Cretaceous' takes is name from the Latin for 'chalk'.
********************************EXCERPT***************************************
jorgekafkazar says:
One omission is the definition of pH: A pH of 8.1 sounds very close to 7.0 (neutral), but it is not. pH values are calculated in powers of 10. The hydrogen ion concentration of a solution with pH 7.0 is 10 times larger than in a solution with pH 8.0. The pH of a solution is equal to to the negative logarithmic (base 10) value of the Hydrogen ion (H+) concentration.
In pure, neutral water, the concentration of hydrogen and hydroxide ions are both (10)^-7 equivalents per liter, and the pH is, accordingly, 7.0
when the pH is 7 to 14, the solution is basic (alkaline)
when the pH is 0 to 7, the solution is acidic
http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/ph-d_483.html
UMMmmmm, Since when has C02 become an an acid?
********************************EXCERPT*******************************************
Jimbo says:
The public are often misled by ocean acidification. Many think that the sea would actually become acidic. Here is what the Warmists at the Catlin Survey have to say on the FAQs page.
“Why is it called Ocean Acidification? The ocean is alkaline and model predictions suggest it will never become acidic.
Acidification refers to the process of the lowering of the ocean’s pH on the pH scale. If the ocean’s pH falls it is referred to as acidification regardless of whether the water remains alkaline i.e. above pH 7. To understand this, consider a temperature change of -200C to -100C. The temperature is still warming despite -100C still being below freezing.”
Here is a fierce response to the Warmists:
http://www.seafriends.org.nz/issues/global/acid.htm
Excellent Graphic...thanks!
CO2 + H20 = H2CO3 (carbonic acid)
saving our seas
conservation by common sense
available on CD as ISSN 1177-4983
The World’s oceans are a buffered system. When the concentration of dissoled CO2 in all of its forms become high enough CaCO3 is precipicated out of the ocean onto its bottom forming limestone deposits. So the amount of carbon in the ocean is limited. Very roughly speaking if the abount of carbon in the atmosphere is 1, the amounh of dissolved carbon dioxide in the ocean is 50, and the amount of carbon in limestone rocks is 250. So it is hard for the atmosphere to be a driver.
I'd pay to see "someone"(Boehner) tell them that on some investigative panel..
Maybe a panel of professors from Oxford, Harvard and Yale.. or Princeton..
And demand they prove differently..
Thanks Ernest.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.