New research shows excessive carbon dioxide in the Oceans pose a serious threat to marine life, food security, and tourism.
“This is, of course, also have an effect on the level of acidity in the oceans, and then (we) than natural increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide emissions with male-male last two hundred years.”
The scientists used a computer model with data from Ice Cores and ocean sediments to simulate the conditions of the sea, returning to the ice age and onward to the end of the 21st century.
When the Earth began to warm 17,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age, atmospheric CO2 began to increase. 6,000 next year, it grew out of 190 parts per million to 280 parts per million.
Marine systems have time to adjust.
Axel Timmerman is a Professor of Oceanography at the University of Hawaii International Pacific Research Center and a co-author of the study. He said the past 200 years to paint a picture that is a lot different.
“Starting with the pre-Industrial Revolution, anthropogenic emissions increased so much that the ocean suddenly started taking large amounts of carbon.”
The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere now standing at 392 parts per million. Timmerman said the study, which also includes the observation data for 30 years, found high levels of a dangerous ocean acidification in specific areas.
“Like the Coral triangle, the Western Pacific and Caribbean tropic exceeds the natural rate by factors of up to thirty in some places.”
Timmerman said occurred at accelerated speeds. “The rate of change is about two times more quickly than what happened during the last glacial period about 20 to 15,000 years ago.”
While ocean acidification could have been detected earlier, scientists are just beginning to monitor a few decades ago. Like sea water becomes more acidic, carbonate-mineral sehllfish and coral which many use to form shells and skeletons-reduced.