Sea Angels’ Shells Are Melting…
We Need To Stop Ocean Acidification - Part. 1
What is the most recent time you ate seafood?
Can you imagine your favorite sea animals or seafood disappearing forever? This could happen due to something called sea acidification
What does it mean? Sea acidification is when the ocean's water becomes more acidic due to the massive amount of carbon dioxide being absorbed by the ocean dissolves in seawater.
Our oceans absorb about 30% of the carbon dioxide that is released in the atmosphere. After the industrial revolution, human activities produced so much more carbon dioxide that Earth had ever produced before and some of the massive amount of new carbon dioxide was absorbed into the oceans. Now that is making our seawater more acidic. It turns out that since the industrial revolution, ocean water has become 30% more acidic.
So what’s bad about this?
For millions of years, our oceans have had a stable pH level ( pH level is a numerical measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a solution) but because sudden increases of carbon dioxide in the oceans have occurred, that impact is threatening ocean species.
The pH measurement of pure water (H20) is 7. An increased measurement shows alkalinity in the water, while a lower measurement indicates acidity in the water. Currently, our ocean pH level is 8.1. By the end of the century, scientists are expecting to see that pH level rise to 7.8 (More acidic) which doesn’t sound like much but that means the amount of H+(Hydrogen Ion) will double in the ocean.
According to IPCC, or Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, most Pacific Island nations are at risk of 50% reduction in fish catch potential by 2100 versus 1980–2000 due to ocean acidification.
Scientists constructed an experiment to see what would happen to marine life if the ocean water pH level dropped to 7.8. This pH represents the level we might be seeing by the end of this century. I was shocked to see the video of the area. The elevated acidic level all caused sea animals and corral to disappear.
Sadly, we are already seeing destruction of species such as sea angels, a large group of small free-swimming sea slugs. Scientists found out that sea angels’ shells are melting due to the current acidification.
If we can keep carbon emissions out of our oceans, we can save marine life. There are so many things we individuals can do. Talk to your friends about this fact and encourage others to be careful with their own carbon footprint. Support carbon-neutral companies and when possible walk or ride bikes instead of driving to nearby places.
Let’s all think about what we can do to help!
Want to learn more? Check out the Part.2 What’s Blue Carbon?