Ocean Warming (9.6) Ocean Acidification (9.7)
Read the NOAA page on ocean acidification and the bullet points below.
- Ocean Warming is caused by the increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
- Ocean warming can affect marine species in a variety of ways, including loss of habitat, and metabolic and reproductive changes.
- Ocean Warming is causing coral bleaching, which occurs when the loss of algae within corals cause the corals to bleach white. Some corals recover and some die.
- Ocean acidification is the decrease in pH of the oceans, primarily due to increased CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere, and can be expressed as chemical equations.
- As more CO2 is released into the atmosphere, the oceans, which absorb a large part of that CO2, become more acidic.
- Anthropogenic activities that contribute to ocean acidification are those that lead to increased CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere: burning of fossil fuels, vehicle emissions, and deforestation.
- Ocean acidification makes it difficult for them to form shells, due to the loss of calcium carbonate.