Ocean Acidification

Describe the OA 55 million years ago

It was a much slower process and there was a mass extinction of calcifying ocean animals (forminifera)

The Washington Ocean Acidification Center was established in

July 2013

Scientific name for Thecosome Pteropods

Limacina helicina

when the carbonate ion concentration is low, Ω is ___ and mineral formation is not favored (Ωaragonite < 1).

Low

OA is how many times faster than the OA 55 million years ago?

10 times

When carbon dioxide combines with ocean water, what is the primary end product produced?

Bicarbonate

What natural process could accelerate OA in coastal waters?

Coastal Upwelling

You can cook meat with heat and

acid

pH

-log[H+]

global increase in atmospheric CO2 since pre-industrial era has caused a decline in the pH of surface seawater by about _____

0.1

Average pH of seawater has gone down by 0.1 and in 100 years it will be down by...

0.3

Global warming temperatures have increased by how much over the past 100 years?

0.6 +/- 0.2 degrees Celsius

Aragonite saturation state migrates to the surface at a rate of __ per year depending on the location

1-2 m

When the Ωaragonite saturation state is below the value of ___, the water is termed "corrosive"

1.0

Pteropods in the North make up how much of the total organisms in the water column ?

10%

During the upwelling of CO2 aragonite saturation states will become undersaturated on the Continental shelf at a depth of what range?

150 -200 m

Surface waters of the ocean by 2050 under saturated and the hydrogen ions will increase by what percent?

150%

At night Pteropods migrate to the surface but in the morning they migrate down how many meters?

200m

According to the Hawaiian Ocean site how much has the acidity of the Oceans increased by?

26%

According to the Hawaiian Ocean site how much has CO2 emissions increased by?

40%

pteropods are the only pelagic aragonite producers that make up how much of the global carbonate export surface in the Southern Ocean?

40%

Half of the CO2 is trapped in the upper __ of the ocean?

400 m

By 2038 CO2 levels will reach ___ppm making it undersaturated

450

Surface waters of the ocean by 2050 under saturated and the CO32-(Carbonate ions) will decrease by what percent?

50%

A carbon sink is,

A natural or manmade reservoir that accumulates and stores some carbon-containing chemical compound for an indefinite period.

What term is used to refer to substances with very low pH values?

Acid (or Acidic)

What forms of calcium carbonate What are precipitated by living organisms?

Aragonite and Calcite

What is the approximate pH of typical ocean water?

Around 8

C02 from atmosphere or seawater can be captured -> salt marshes, mangroves & sea grass as organic material that stores for decades.

Blue Carbon

How can ocean acidification affect marine life?

Breaking down exoskeletons and shells. Evidence shows that some shelled organisms build shells more slowly, and some shells weaken and dissolve in acidic environments.

Other minor components are:

Bromine, Boron, Carbon, Nitrogen, Strontium, Silicon

Carbonate ion

CO32-

Saturation State Chemical equation including the reactants and products.

Ca2+ (Calcium) + CO32-(Carbonate ion) yields CaCO3(Calcium Carbonate)

What happens if the omega aragonite phase is less than 1?

CaCo3 (Calcium Carbonate) will dissolve

What happens if the omega aragonite phase is greater than 1?

CaCo3 (Calcium Carbonate) will precipitate

Shells and corals may dissolve in an acidic environment. This is due to the breakdown of:

Calcium carbonate

This term refers to the capture and storage of carbon:

Carbon sequestration

What regulate(s) the pH of seawater?

Carbonate ions

Areas where CO2 bubbles up naturally due to underlying volcanism in Italy and Papua-New Guinea are called?

Champagne Sites

3 major planktonic calcifiers?

Coccolithophores(algae), Forminifera(protists), and Pteropods(snails)

Pacific Northwest waters are ___ and __ than the global average ocean[xv], which means CO2 gas dissolves more effectively in these waters

Colder and fresher

The Washington Ocean Acidification Center is led by the

College of the Environment at the University of Washington

Two major factors that increase CO2 emissions

Deforestation and factory emissions

What four major resources does OA(Ocean Acidification) damage in the ocean?

Disrupts food webs, biogeochemical cycle, direct loss of fisheries, and reef tourism and protection

What happens if the omega aragonite phase is equal to 1?

Equilibrium

Compared to the 1700s, average sea-surface pH levels have...

Fallen variably across the oceans

What explorer named the Pacific Ocean and in what year

Ferdinand Mallegen 1520

As you know, CO2 from the atmosphere dissolves into seawater. Let's look at this process in more detail:

First, CO2 reacts with water to form carbonic acid (H2CO3-): (1) CO2 + H2O > H2CO3- Carbonic acid can then dissociate into bicarbonate (HCO3-): (2) H2CO3- > H+ + HCO3- Bicarbonate can then dissociate into carbonate ions (CO32-) (3) HCO3- > H+ + CO32-

Coral reefs provide 6 major things in Florida.

Food,shelter fish, builds beaches, surf swells, protects shorelines

Bicarbonate

HCO3-

When the carbonate ion concentration is high, Ωaragonite is ____ and mineral formation is favored (Ωaragonite > 1);

High

Anthropogenic means?

Human caused

The major components (from greatest to smallest component) of seawater are:

Hydrogen, Oxygen, Chlorine, Sodium, Magnesium, Sulfate, Calcium, Potassium

By 2100 what areas will be most affected due to OA and what will happen to the aragonite saturation state?

In the Eastern boundaries and higher latitudes the pH will be very low. aragonite saturation state will decrease in higher latitudes and will be under saturated which means most of CaCO3 will dissolve.

When the temperature or salinity of seawater decreases, the amount of CO2 that can be absorbed:

Increases

Scientists are concerned about which greenhouse gas being released into the atmosphere as permafrost in Polar Regions thaws?

Methane

3 layers under the outer layer of the Pteropod shell starting from the surface.

Periostratum(organic layer), prismatic layer, and lamellar layer (crossed)

Some trace elements (found at less than 0.95ppm) include:

Phosphorus, Argon, Zinc, Rubidium

What may benefit from higher CO2 conditions in the ocean?

Photosynthetic algae and seagrasses

Areas likely to be particularly vulnerable to Ocean Acidification

Regions with natural upwelling of deep ocean water on continental shelves, regions with low temperatures near the poles, and coastal regions with fresh water discharge.

The amount of gases that can dissolve in seawater depends on temperature and:

Salinity

The stability of minerals such as calcium carbonate is defined by a term called the

Saturation state or Omega

list two examples of vital uses of calcium carbonate to marine life?

Shell formation, exoskeleton formation, coral reef formation

if excess CO2 results in an excess of hydrogen ions in seawater what will happen to carbonate?

Some of the excess Hydrogen ions will combine with carbonate to form bicarbonate therefore reducing the availability of carbonate to marine organisms.

What kind of pteropods are scientists currently focusing on?

Thecosome pteropods (shelled)

What happened when Clownfish were put into a higher concentration of CO2?

Their ability to detect predators weakened.

Give a few reasons why pteropods are important in the Southern Ocean?

Their seasonally abundant, they graze on mesozooplankton, their the only pelagic aragonite producers that make up 20% to 40% of the global carbonate export surface, and are indicators of health

Two major things that affect animals behavior in OA?

They will have less energy and try to distribute away from the CO2 zones

The seasonal invasion of corrosive upwelling on the what coast of N. America?

West

As CO2 increases for photosynthetic organisms it fuels what type of organisms specifically?

autotrophic ( animals fix sunlight for energy)

Pteropods(snails) precipitate what?

aragonite

For many shell-forming organisms it is the _____, not pH, that has been shown to be most critical to survival and growth.

aragonite saturation state

Coccolithophores and Forminifera precipitate what?

calcite

Carbon sequestration

capture and storage of carbon

When the ____ concentration is high, Ωaragonite is high and mineral formation is favored (Ωaragonite > 1);

carbonate ion

Because calcium is abundant, the saturation state of calcium carbonate minerals is mainly controlled by the

carbonate ions in seawater.

Increased acidity can lead to

coral reef decline

When the Ωaragonite is below the value of 1.0, the water is termed "____" because dissolution of pure aragonite and unprotected aragonite shells will begin to occur.[viii]

corrosive

What gas molecules, consisting of methane surrounded by water, may in the future be a source of energy?

gas Hydrate

How much of the CO2 is trapped in the upper 400 m of the ocean?

half

What mainly feed on Thecosomes?

juvenile Pink Salmon

The ocean is the

largest natural carbon sink on Earth.

The entire pelagic zone (water column) aragonite saturation state will be =,<,or > than 1

less than

Carbon dioxide is taken up by

marine plants and algae during photosynthesis.

When carbon dioxide dissolves in seawater,

most of it becomes bicarbonate ions and hydrogen ions. This increase in hydrogen ions is what decreases the pH. In addition, some of the hydrogen combines with carbonate to form more bicarbonate, decreasing the concentration of carbonate in seawater. Many marine organisms use carbonate, combined with calcium, to form their exoskeletons, shells or other structures (e.g. corals).

Four ways scientists study how OA is affecting organisms

observing and comparing old data to current time, lab experiments, Large Mesocosm Experiments (huge volumes of water in the poles), and looking at animals across a natural gradient in space

What does looking at animals across a natural gradient in space include?

oxygen minimum zones

Carbon sink

system that stores carbon

As temperature OR salinity increases,

the amount of gas the ocean can absorb decreases

As the amount of hydrogen ions increases in a solution,

the pH level decreases

Carbon sequestration refers to

the storage of carbon for indefinite time.

Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been increasing since industrial times because of

use of energy in homes, burning of fossil fuels for industry, emissions from transportation, cement manufacturing and deforestation.

What is passive diffusion?

when there are less Hydrogen ions in the cell compared to the environment

Describe what an ionic imbalance is

when there are less Hydrogen ions in the cell compared to the environment which is also called passive diffusion and the cell uses more energy for it's protein pump to keep an equilibrium state.

the pre-industrial Ωaragonite was already lower here than in the average ocean, with a pre-industrial of ~2.5, compared to the open ocean average value of

~3.6

Because the water from upwelling was last in contact w/ the surface _____ years ago the anthropogenic signal is weaker in those source waters

~30-50