Ocean Acidification: Present Conditions and Future Changes in a High-CO2 World
The uptake of anthropogenic CO2 by the global ocean induces fundamental changes in seawater chemistry that could have dramatic impacts on biological ecosystems in the upper ocean. Estimates based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) “business-as-usual” emission scenarios suggest t...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:38cb117772004ff1890f6cc70d008069 2023-05-15T14:55:44+02:00 Ocean Acidification: Present Conditions and Future Changes in a High-CO2 World Richard A. Feely Scott C. Doney Sarah R. Cooley 2009-12-01T00:00:00Z https://doaj.org/article/38cb117772004ff1890f6cc70d008069 EN eng The Oceanography Society http://tos.org/oceanography/issues/issue_archive/issue_pdfs/22_4/22-4_feely.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1042-8275 1042-8275 https://doaj.org/article/38cb117772004ff1890f6cc70d008069 Oceanography, Vol 22, Iss 4, Pp 36-47 (2009) anthropogenic CO2 ocean acification emission scenarios aragonite undersaturation Oceanography GC1-1581 article 2009 ftdoajarticles 2022-12-31T01:17:04Z The uptake of anthropogenic CO2 by the global ocean induces fundamental changes in seawater chemistry that could have dramatic impacts on biological ecosystems in the upper ocean. Estimates based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) “business-as-usual” emission scenarios suggest that atmospheric CO2 levels could approach 800 ppm near the end of the century. Corresponding biogeochemical models for the ocean indicate that surface water pH will drop from a pre-industrial value of about 8.2 to about 7.8 in the IPCC A2 scenario by the end of this century, increasing the ocean’s acidity by about 150% relative to the beginning of the industrial era. In contemporary ocean water, elevated CO2 will also cause substantial reductions in surface water carbonate ion concentrations, in terms of either absolute changes or fractional changes relative to pre-industrial levels. For most open-ocean surface waters, aragonite undersaturation occurs when carbonate ion concentrations drop below approximately 66 µmol kg-1. The model projections indicate that aragonite undersaturation will start to occur by about 2020 in the Arctic Ocean and 2050 in the Southern Ocean. By 2050, all of the Arctic will be undersaturated with respect to aragonite, and by 2095, all of the Southern Ocean and parts of the North Pacific will be undersaturated. For calcite, undersaturation occurs when carbonate ion drops below 42 µmol kg-1. By 2095, most of the Arctic and some parts of the Bering and Chukchi seas will be undersaturated with respect to calcite. However, in most of the other ocean basins, the surface waters will still be saturated with respect to calcite, but at a level greatly reduced from the present. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Ocean Chukchi Climate change Ocean acidification Southern Ocean Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Southern Ocean Arctic Ocean Pacific |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
anthropogenic CO2 ocean acification emission scenarios aragonite undersaturation Oceanography GC1-1581 |
spellingShingle |
anthropogenic CO2 ocean acification emission scenarios aragonite undersaturation Oceanography GC1-1581 Richard A. Feely Scott C. Doney Sarah R. Cooley Ocean Acidification: Present Conditions and Future Changes in a High-CO2 World |
topic_facet |
anthropogenic CO2 ocean acification emission scenarios aragonite undersaturation Oceanography GC1-1581 |
description |
The uptake of anthropogenic CO2 by the global ocean induces fundamental changes in seawater chemistry that could have dramatic impacts on biological ecosystems in the upper ocean. Estimates based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) “business-as-usual” emission scenarios suggest that atmospheric CO2 levels could approach 800 ppm near the end of the century. Corresponding biogeochemical models for the ocean indicate that surface water pH will drop from a pre-industrial value of about 8.2 to about 7.8 in the IPCC A2 scenario by the end of this century, increasing the ocean’s acidity by about 150% relative to the beginning of the industrial era. In contemporary ocean water, elevated CO2 will also cause substantial reductions in surface water carbonate ion concentrations, in terms of either absolute changes or fractional changes relative to pre-industrial levels. For most open-ocean surface waters, aragonite undersaturation occurs when carbonate ion concentrations drop below approximately 66 µmol kg-1. The model projections indicate that aragonite undersaturation will start to occur by about 2020 in the Arctic Ocean and 2050 in the Southern Ocean. By 2050, all of the Arctic will be undersaturated with respect to aragonite, and by 2095, all of the Southern Ocean and parts of the North Pacific will be undersaturated. For calcite, undersaturation occurs when carbonate ion drops below 42 µmol kg-1. By 2095, most of the Arctic and some parts of the Bering and Chukchi seas will be undersaturated with respect to calcite. However, in most of the other ocean basins, the surface waters will still be saturated with respect to calcite, but at a level greatly reduced from the present. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Richard A. Feely Scott C. Doney Sarah R. Cooley |
author_facet |
Richard A. Feely Scott C. Doney Sarah R. Cooley |
author_sort |
Richard A. Feely |
title |
Ocean Acidification: Present Conditions and Future Changes in a High-CO2 World |
title_short |
Ocean Acidification: Present Conditions and Future Changes in a High-CO2 World |
title_full |
Ocean Acidification: Present Conditions and Future Changes in a High-CO2 World |
title_fullStr |
Ocean Acidification: Present Conditions and Future Changes in a High-CO2 World |
title_full_unstemmed |
Ocean Acidification: Present Conditions and Future Changes in a High-CO2 World |
title_sort |
ocean acidification: present conditions and future changes in a high-co2 world |
publisher |
The Oceanography Society |
publishDate |
2009 |
url |
https://doaj.org/article/38cb117772004ff1890f6cc70d008069 |
geographic |
Arctic Southern Ocean Arctic Ocean Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Southern Ocean Arctic Ocean Pacific |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Chukchi Climate change Ocean acidification Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Chukchi Climate change Ocean acidification Southern Ocean |
op_source |
Oceanography, Vol 22, Iss 4, Pp 36-47 (2009) |
op_relation |
http://tos.org/oceanography/issues/issue_archive/issue_pdfs/22_4/22-4_feely.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1042-8275 1042-8275 https://doaj.org/article/38cb117772004ff1890f6cc70d008069 |
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1766327756552929280 |