Don't
they measure ocean acidity?
There's no satellite in space that's capable of directly
measuring ocean acidity, but an international team of scientists writing in the journal Environmental Science & Technology described last week how satellite measurements of sea surface temperatures, salinity and plankton activity could be combined and used to estimate pH.
Not exact matches
An analysis of CO2 preserved in ice cores shows that for more than 600,000 years the
ocean had a pH of approximately 8.2 (pH is the
acidity of a solution
measured on a 14 - point scale, with a pH below 7 being acidic and above 7, basic).
By manipulating the
acidity of the Biosphere 2
ocean and
measuring the resulting growth rates in coral between 1996 and 2003, Langdon proved that
ocean acidification from rising atmospheric carbon dioxide would radically affect calcium carbonate — shelled marine life (pdf).
A new prize aims to change that by offering a $ 1 - million reward to inventors who can devise a cheaper and more accurate test of
ocean acidity, which is
measured in pH, a gauge of the concentration of ions in a solution.
Combined with Integrated
Ocean Observing System (IOOS) buoys from NOAA measuring wind velocity, they track ocean acidity — and predict the upwelling events that cause increased acidity — in real
Ocean Observing System (IOOS) buoys from NOAA
measuring wind velocity, they track
ocean acidity — and predict the upwelling events that cause increased acidity — in real
ocean acidity — and predict the upwelling events that cause increased
acidity — in real time.
You will not find anyone, here including the skeptics» world, who will say it is an invention, because we do
measure it and we do see the increase in
ocean acidity since the Industrial Revolution.
As acids go, H2CO3 is relatively innocuous — we drink it all the time in Coke and other carbonated beverages — but in sufficient quantities it can change the water's pH. Already, humans have pumped enough carbon into the
oceans — some hundred and twenty billion tons — to produce a.1 decline in surface pH. Since pH, like the Richter scale, is a logarithmic
measure, a.1 drop represents a rise in
acidity of about thirty per cent.
The
ocean acidity therefore increases, and this has been
measured by a variety of techniques, some indirect, but with modern methods also including direct pH measurements.
Now scientists are setting up to learn more about how our
oceans are reacting to the 30 % increase in pH (the
measure of
acidity) that has already occurred, and what might happen if the trends continue.