Arguments
Frequently Asked Questions About Ocean Acidification
Posted on 4 January 2013 by Rob Painting
Skeptical Science is rather fortunate to have had three experts on ocean chemistry write an entire series (OA not OK) about ocean acidification (OA). Now the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) has released a FAQ document, prepared by some of the world's foremost ocean acidification researchers, which answers many of the frequently asked questions about OA.
Figure 1 - A scanning electron microsope image of the pteropod (marine snail) Limacina helicina antarctica showing acute levels of shell dissolution. This species is a cornerstone of the Antarctic marine food web and is at imminent risk due to ocean acidification. Despite possessing a highly corroded shell, the pictured specimen was alive at point of capture. Image courtesy of the British Antarctic Survey.
As the above image graphically demonstrates, ocean acidification is not some far-flung future problem, it is a dire threat to many marine organisms that is happening in our oceans right now, and will progressively get worse with continued fossil fuel emissions.
So if you happen to be traversing the blogosphere and stumble upon some contrarian spouting pseudo-scientific gibberish about ocean acidification, not only do you have the SkS OA not OK series of blog posts with which to educate lurkers, but the WHOI FAQ document is also likely to provide a factual response to the typical climate contrarian talking points.
Climate-related myths tend to propagate like rabbits in the absence of scientific facts, so please disseminate the WHOI FAQ as widely as possible.
The peer-reviewed paper this pic comes from has been published, so expect a post on it in the near-future.
OA damage in a fossil of a tiny critter from 55MYr ago.
Real then, real now.
And awesome science that we can see that far back in that detail!
Although the rate of PETM ocean acidification was much smaller than present-day it still resulted in the extinction of some species.
I get this message:
Oops! Internet Explorer could not connect to darchive.mblwhoilibrary.org:8080.
While it would not surprise me that my computer is the miscreant, I would not expect to get that message if the address is correct. Could you confirm that it is, please? (Though I don't know what I am going to do if it is.)
Thanks for all your trouble. In the end I had to rely on the email. For information: Right clicking gets me to the save as intruction, which eventually comes up with the options of where to save it (in the normal way), but then nothing happens when I try to do so (no matter how long I wait).
I have been commenting elsewhere under my real name and seem to have upset someone. Oh hum, modern democracy: 'if you cannot win with facts, then win without them' seems to be the maxim. Pity Old Mother Nature is not so easily hindered in her endeavours. And yes, I have a firewall and antivirus (premium version), plus some software that is supposed to ensure that I have all the correct settings for protecting my computer, but somehow I have Chrome going in round in circles and another site that will not let me read the web page because of a 'long running script' which their admin do not recogise and cannot understand. So beware one and all.
A cliff it certainly is, but the ocean carbonate system has always been near the bottom. I always say you can't talk about OA without reference to a Bjerrum Plot as it distinctly shows the relationships between pH and carbonate species. The FAQ would be improved by one and an associated discussion.
As for titration, it is a standard test of seawater samples to determine Total Alkalinity.