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"Jean" <jean.lenior@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:43f9beaf$0$18307$8fcfb975@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> George a écrit dans le message ...
>>http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-02/ci-oms021706.php
>>
>>Increased carbon dioxide emissions are rapidly making the world's oceans
>>more acidic and, if unabated, could cause a mass extinction of marine
>>life
>>similar to one that occurred 65 million years ago when the dinosaurs
>>disappeared. Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution's Department of
> NONSENSE SNIPPED
>
> The average concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is
> 0.036%. This value has not changed since records have been kept. Some of
> this CO2 is dissolved by water ( 0.759ml CO2/ ml H2O at STP) in the
> atmosphere to give carbonic acid (see
> Henry's law) this gives the average pH of rainwater of 5.7 This
> ,rainwater,contributes almost all the acidity from atmospheric CO2 to the
> ocean. There is very little
> absorption of CO2 into water at the ocean-air interface.
> For the acidity of rainwater to have much effect on the ocean would mean
> a
> dramatic increase in the acidity of the rain water over a great time
> span.
> This would likely wipe out most land species long before there would be
> even
> a slight change in the ocean pH.
> There is no reason to believe that there is any danger at all of this
> happening in the near geologic future.
>
> This paper you cite is not based on anything even close to any kind of
> scientific study. like checking the pH of ocean water at as many
> locations
> needed
> to make the data significant to see if the pH was indeed decreasing.
> Papers like these are political science not physical science based only
> on
> preconceived conclusions and WILD speculation.
>
> JL
I don't claim to be an expert in climate research by any stretch, but you
may have some valid points here. After thinking about the above, and since
I have a Marine reef aquarium, I am aware of the buffering capacity of
ocean water, so it seems to me that it would take a hell of an increase in
disolved CO2 entering the oceans for it to have a significant affect on the
oceans' buffering capacity to the point where ecosystems would start dying
off. Having said that, it also occurred to me that the possibility exists
that there could be local or regional increases, particularly in shallow
areas, that could be detrimental, especially to reefs. At any rate, I've
e-mailed the author of the research to try to get his input on the matter.
Yes, I asked nicely. :-)
George
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