Acid bath.When power plants and automobiles pump out C[O.sub.2], most of it goes straight into the atmosphere. But about one-third is absorbed by the planet's oceans. The oceans' daily absorption of some 22 million tons of C[O.sub.2] is steadily changing the chemistry of seawater seawater Water that makes up the oceans and seas. Seawater is a complex mixture of 96.5% water, 2.5% salts, and small amounts of other substances. Much of the world's magnesium is recovered from seawater, as are large quantities of bromine. and causing the oceans to become more acidic acidic /acid·ic/ (ah-sid´ik) of or pertaining to an acid; acid-forming. acidic, adj having the properties of an acid; acid-forming properties. . For years, scientists believed most of the acidification acidification a technology used by processors to preserve foods by adding acids (such as acetic, citric, phosphoric, propionic and lactic acid) and thereby reduce the risk of growth of harmful bacteria. was occurring in the deepest waters. But a new study reveals that acidic waters are moving into shallow areas and are eating away at the shells and skeletons of starfish, coral, and clams. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "This means that ocean acidification Ocean acidification is the name given to the ongoing decrease in the pH of the Earth's oceans, caused by their uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Between 1751 and 1994 surface ocean pH is estimated to have decreased from approximately 8.179 to 8. may be seriously impacting our marine life on our continental shelf right now, today," says Richard Feely of the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory. |
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