# 8781 byalbonnici@... on Aug. 7, 2006, 5:19 p.m.
Member since 2021-10-03
And yet more cheerful news for all to read and hear- Alex
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Ocean acidification: the other CO2 problem
b.. Caspar Henderson
c.. Magazine issue 2563
As the oceans soak up ever more carbon dioxide, coral reefs could perish along with innumerable other sea creatures. New Scientist reports on a disaster in the making
A few years ago, Victoria Fabry saw the future of the world's oceans in a plastic jar. She was aboard a research vessel in the frigid waters of the North Pacific, carrying out experiments on a species of pteropod called Clio pyramidata - frisky little molluscs with shells up to a centimetre long and flaps on their bodies that they use to swim in a way that resembles butterfly flight.
Something strange was happening in Fabry's jars. "The pteropods were still swimming like billy-o, but their shells were visibly dissolving," says Fabry, a biologist from California State University San Marcos. "I could see it with the naked eye."
She realised that the animals' respiration had increased the carbon dioxide concentration in ...
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19125631.200?DCMP=NLC-ezine&nsref=mg19125631.200
# 8782 bylucioc@... on Aug. 7, 2006, 5:42 p.m.
Member since 2021-10-03
On 8/7/06, Alex Michael Bonnici wrote:
(...)
> And yet more cheerful news for all to read and hear- Alex
(...)
Trying to look at a the bright side (supposing that there is one),
though, I would like to know to what extent this oceanic capacity of
working as a acidic "sink" for CO2 can help minimize effects of global
warming (hopefully without returning everything back to the atmosphere
in a catastrophic away at some point in the future).
# 8783 bydehammer@... on Aug. 7, 2006, 6:51 p.m.
Member since 2021-10-03
the more co2 that is in the water, the higher the consentration of
plants and animals that use the co2 for their cycle, and the more
fish that feed on them. the jar did not contain the plants that
convert the co2 to o2 and carbon
wrote:
>
> On 8/7/06, Alex Michael Bonnici wrote:
> (...)
> > And yet more cheerful news for all to read and hear- Alex
> (...)
>
> "Cheerful" indeed. :-(
>
> Trying to look at a the bright side (supposing that there is one),
> though, I would like to know to what extent this oceanic capacity of
> working as a acidic "sink" for CO2 can help minimize effects of
global
> warming (hopefully without returning everything back to the
atmosphere
# 8784 bylucioc@... on Aug. 7, 2006, 6:57 p.m.
Member since 2021-10-03
On 8/7/06, Robert wrote:
(...)
> the more co2 that is in the water, the higher the consentration of
> plants and animals that use the co2 for their cycle, and the more
> fish that feed on them. the jar did not contain the plants that
> convert the co2 to o2 and carbon
(...)
could counterbalance the CO2 increase. We know that in the atmosphere
plant growth is not being quick enough to absorb all the CO2 dumped on
it. Are there similar studies trying to measure if there has been any
increase in oceanic CO2 as well?