Posted on 06/25/2012 1:27:18 AM PDT by neverdem
You know...
Sciencey stuff.
"Foreboding. Animation of changes in ocean acidification over time in the California Current System. The left side shows the depth of aragonite saturation, and the right side shows the surface ocean pH."
"Declining pH of seawater reduces the amount of carbonate ions in the water, which many shell-building organisms combine with calcium to create the calcium carbonate that they use to build their shells and skeletons."
"Along the central Oregon coast, for example, when summer winds blow surface ocean waters offshore, a measure of the amount of CO2 in the water known a partial pressure rises from a few hundred to over 2000, causing ocean acidity to spike."
How's that?
It combines with water to form carbonic acid, H2CO3 which is in equilibrium with hydronim ions, H3O+ and bicarbonate ions, HCO3-. It's a weak acid that's the main buffer to changes of blood pH. (The phosphoric acid phosphate buffer probably contributes in a minor way. Phosphoric acid is in various cola pop drinks.)
When someone can't breath properly e.g. they're breathing too slowly, they can't eliminate CO2 in their blood. Their pH goes down. It's called respiratory acidosis. When someone has an anxiety attack and breathes too rapidly, they're blowing off too much carbon dioxide. It's called respiratory alkalosis. That's why you have them rebreathe air from a paper bag.
My undergraduate major was chemistry. exDemMom has it right in comment# 32. She even went into the equilibrium with carbonate ions. I'm just reading through the thread now.
I'm familiar with the processes in the body, but that is a different thing than sea water (less saline). Are you talking about the fraction of CO2 not in solution? Else algae wouldn't be able to use it.
Concentrations of molecules and ions may differ, but the varius equilibia reactions will still happen in essentially aqueous solutions. Water still has minute amounts of hydronium and hydroxide ions in equilibrium. Adding CO2 makes it acidic, but just weakly. It doesn't completely dissociate, as opposed to strong acids like sulphuric or nitric acids which almost completely dissociate for all intents and purposes. That's why when CO2 is involved it's called a buffer system.
Effectively, the ocean has been going flat, like warm beer.
Yet my next question is whether the solubility of CO2 in seawater has any significant effect on its disassociation into carbonic acid with such small temperature differences. I cannot believe the effects are of any significance compared to bajillions of tons of sulfuric acid from the open combustion of coal in Asia.
Let me know how that goes. You want some fries with that?
Offshore Oregon has some large volcanoes belching gases. They are deep underwater but still very much alive!
Congratulation on having made the achievement. Am Trumped!
I noticed that the “foreboding” animation doesn’t get foreboding until far into the future. What few frames there are that show actual data from the past show fairly constant pH levels. Once the “data” switches to projections, its foreboding coefficient seems to go through the roof. My guess is that if one were to graph the change from past data to future projection, the shape would look curiously like a certain piece of sports equipment that’s quite popular in Canada.
They also don't tell you that much of current sea life--ie, critters like reef corals and shellfish, love CO2 as it enriches their ability to capture calcium and make shells (calcium carbonate, ie limestone).
The "acidification" scam is another desperate attempt to salvage a failing "theory" of AGW.
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