Are the Earth's Oceans Hitting Their Carbon Cap?

[grantcart]

Source: CNN

Like the vast forests of the world, which continually suck carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and release oxygen, the planet's oceans serve as vital carbon sinks. Last year the oceans absorbed as much as 2.3 billion tons of carbon, or about one-fourth of all manmade carbon emissions. Without the action of the oceans, the CO2 we emit into the atmosphere would have flame-broiled the planet by now.



But a new paper published in the Nov. 19 issue of Nature demonstrates that the oceans' ability to absorb man-made carbon may be dwindling — and that has worrying ramifications for future climate change. While the ocean is now absorbing more carbon in total than ever before, the waters are sucking up a smaller percentage of the CO2 emitted by humans. That could mean that there's a physical limit to the oceans' capacity — and we could be hitting it



Read more: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1940391,00.html?cnn=yes

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Yesterday I met a government scientist and asked her what the latest indicators on climate changing are and she said that there are bombshell numbers on the horizon - the accidity of the Oceans is changing at a rate much faster than ever expected. She said that the new figures just received left scientists stunned, and would likely be the new message that scientists would be trying to get world leaders to focus on in Copenhagen.

The article above talks about the benefits of the Oceans to absorb CO2 to the atmosphere but neglects to explain the very harmful effect that it will have on the accidity and PH levels in the Ocean.

Here is a graph that shows the problem, this graph is based on data 3 years old.



More on ocean accidity here:

http://www.global-greenhouse-warming.com/ocean-acidification.html

[fascisthunter]

1. yes, and it's making our oceans more acidic

[msongs]

2. not until they are fizzy like carbonated water or soda nt

[Overseas]

3. Yes, but in the meantime, their capacity to absorb CO2

has allowed the deniers to claim things "aren't so bad," even as we see glaciers melting at accelerated rates, the breaking up of massive ice sheets, sea levels rising, and coral reefs dying, among the many other manifestations of accelerated global warming.

[grantcart]

4. but the increase in accidity is absolute scientific proof of the damage of CO2

EVEN IF THERE IS NO CHANGE IN THE CLIMATE THE CHANGE IN THE OCEANS' FOOD PYRAMID IS NOW ESTABLISHED FACT.

[Overseas]

9. The oceans have been damaged by global warming for years now.

I remember watching some scientists on CSpan several years ago talking about how the oceans were heating up and the warmth was extending deeper and deeper and damaging those ecosystems.

This acidity is further evidence of the damage to our oceans.

I feel lucky that I got to explore beautiful coral reefs and underwater life as a child on trips with my family.

[greiner3]

5. Add to this rosy future;

The fact that warming is continuing to advance toward the poles. That is not really the bad news. What is the bad news is that as warming turns millenia and even millions of years old tundra to virtual Vernal pools. This results in the release of untold billions of tons of methane, among other gases. If you are not aware of it, methane is some 19 times more damaging than CO2. We aren't bombarded with this fact because there is not that much methane in the mix. That will change. Will it be the straw for our ecosystem's camel? News at 11.

[hatrack]

8. And then let this image soak into your brain - note the 1 kilometer scale for size of methane vents

These are sonar images of methane plumes coming off the floor of the Arctic Ocean this summer.

Strangely enough, polar science teams are finding out that methane clathrate releases are happening (all together now!) much faster than had been expected.

Huh. I wonder why.

[Odin2005]

10. *BURP!!!*

:scared:

[Delphinus]

11. I tried to explain

the global climate change to someone who looks at it as simply "cyclic". They said you could find evidence in the ice cores and such. My guess is, though, that whatever was cyclic in the past, wasn't also a world with 6 billion+ souls.

[dhcave]

6. Save the Earth

Ban CO2 emitting flesh bags!

[8 track mind]

7. wow! Did Master Beck teach you to say that?

enjoy your pizza....

[jpak]

13. What a stupid post

On an annual basis, CO2 emissions from "CO2 emitting flesh bags!" is balanced by CO2 uptake by photosynthesis.

The net flux of CO2 to the atmosphere from biota is very close to zero.

CO2 is accumulating in the atmosphere due to fossil fuel combustion and other anthropogenic activities. Roughly half of that CO2 USED to be absorbed by the ocean and continents - the rest accumulated in the atmosphere.

With ocean warming and acidification, the ability of the ocean to absorb CO2 is declining and may cease altogether over vast areas.

Which means more fossil CO2 will remain in the atmosphere and the Earth will warm more rapidly.

Tell that to your stupid anal cyst "CO2 emitting flesh bag!"

:thumbsdown:

[jpak]

12. Global warming deniers suck ass

just sayin'