The Killer Seas Begin — Mass Marine Death off Chile as Ocean Acidification Begins to Take Down Flori

[CrusaderFrank]

So an "acid" that instantly disassociates upon contact with the water is bleaching the corals?

Really?

 

[skookerasbil]

Depends on what kind of organism that you are. As you well know. However, losing organisms at that level affects many organisms right up the chain.

Depends on what kind of organism that you are.

Okay, so just give me the before and after pH, then we can see which organisms are at risk at that new level.

Ocean Acidification

Ocean acidification is sometimes called “climate change’s equally evil twin,” and for good reason: it's a significant and harmful consequence of excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that we don't see or feel because its effects are happening underwater. At least one-quarter of the carbon dioxide (CO2) released by burning coal, oil and gas doesn't stay in the air, but instead dissolves into the ocean. Since the beginning of the industrial era, the ocean has absorbed some 525 billion tons of CO2 from the atmosphere, presently around 22 million tons per day.

At first, scientists thought that this might be a good thing because it leaves less carbon dioxide in the air to warm the planet. But in the past decade, they’ve realized that this slowed warming has come at the cost of changing the ocean’s chemistry. When carbon dioxide dissolves in seawater, the water becomes more acidic and the ocean’s pH (a measure of how acidic or basic the ocean is) drops. Even though the ocean is immense, enough carbon dioxide can have a major impact. In the past 200 years alone, ocean water has become 30 percent more acidic—faster than any known change in ocean chemistry in the last 50 million years.

A good article from a credible source.

a trace gas has no effect on the ocean.........no science to back it up.......conjecture only.

Take a normal sized in-ground pool and put a single drop from a dropper into it!! C'mon.........by that logic, a single drop of arsenic in that pool, the pool is not usable!!

Yuk....yuk..........I'll take my chances on a hot day!!

 

[bodecea]

The Killer Seas Begin — Mass Marine Death off Chile as Ocean Acidification Begins to Take Down Florida’s Reef

We should be very clear. There is no way to save the beautiful and majestic coral reefs of our world without a rapid cessation of fossil fuel burning. And, if we continue burning fossil fuels, we will not only lose the reefs and corals — we will also turn the world’s oceans into a mass extinction engine.



(Masses of dead sea life wash up onto Chile’s shores after the worst red tide in history for that nation. As we witness the tragic carnage in Chile, we should remember that the red tide there, the mass coral bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, and the onset of ocean acidification damage to the Florida Reef are all linked by the same thread — fossil fuel burning and a related heating up of the global climate. Image source: Largest Red Tide in Chilean History.)

Mass Extinction Driven by the Awful Engine of Greed

Killer Seas. That’s what we’re turning the world’s oceans into in our allowing the fossil fuel industry to retain dominance over the world’s energy sources. In allowing them to continue to keep us captive to the burning of high carbon fuels through their corrupting and pervasive political and economic power. We certainly bear some of the blame for apathetically allowing ourselves to be hood-winked and lead about by the noses. But we shouldn’t fault ourselves too much. For the blame mostly rests within the policy-making apparatuses of dominance-based economic systems and in the very few individuals around the world who now hold the keys to that power.

An enforced global injustice set in place by wealthy individuals like the Koch Brothers, Rupert Murdoch and Warren Buffet — who through a corrupt monetary influence regularly hijack the political process to protect legacy fossil fuel assets and to assault renewable energy industries. Those like the members of the governing board of Exxon Mobile — who have waged a decades-long campaign to misinform the public on the dangers of human-caused climate change. These so-called global elites are the authors of the climate change denial that has now crippled and deeply divided most legislative bodies around the world. The same fossil fuel drug pushers who’ve worked so hard to keep the global economic system addicted to the most damaging and corrupting of energy sources — oil, gas and coal.

These people are the real monsters of the climate crisis. The ones who, often without any kind of visibility or accountability, have done everything they can to ensure that we, the people of an ailing Earth, have less and less power to make the right decisions and to form the kind of political consensus that would actually provide a pathway to leading us out of this worsening global nightmare. And so, whether we individually realize it now or not, we are in the fight of our lives — what is likely to be the most important struggle for justice that the human race has ever undertaken. For as difficult as such a fight will ultimately be — we must fight the fossil fuel interests and win if human civilization and much of life on Earth is to survive.

The Advent of Killer Seas

I don’t usually talk about religion here in this blog. And I’m not what many people would consider to be a religious person. I do not, for example, attend church very often. Nor do I tend to agree with many so-called religious authorities — whom I often see as short-sighted and relying too much on mythical and dogmatic beliefs that are at best failures in logic and at worst the outgrowths of institutional corruption or general backwards-thinking and small-mindedness. But in this particular case — in the case of the killer seas that are starting to plague our world — I cannot help but to often be struck by how one of the deadly sins that the Bible warns of is resulting in so much terrible harm to the Earth, to its creatures, and to her people. And it is impossible to turn away from the clear-sighted and beautifully written moral imperative laid down by the Pope Francis in his Encyclical. A warning that we should all heed and not turn our eyes from.



(Nothing is Frozen — by Miep. This is what happens when the world loses its ice — Killer Seas. Image source: There are So Many Things Wrong With This.)

For in the book of Revelation, the Bible speaks of a terrible global disaster. One that begins when the seas turn blood-red and a third of all the fish are killed. Many have interpreted this book, this passage, as a kind of inevitable wrath of a literal God coming down from heaven to divide and punish the human race. But I think that this is a false interpretation. A loving, nurturing God is not a God of Wrath. No, that does not ring true to me at all. I think of this passage, this book, instead as a kind of stark warning against the direct and deadly consequences of bad actions. Of what happens to us if we succumb to what the Bible identifies as the sin of greed. For ‘the love of money is the root of all evil.’

The Bible is, after all, a sort of lore of the ancients passed down over hundreds of generations. A book of parables and lessons for how human beings should treat one another in ways that help not only individuals — but the entire race to survive. In this way, the Bible could be seen as an ancient guide for civilization survival. A book that includes numerous passages on how cities and nations can prosper by living in balance with one another and with nature. And one that issues this essential and stark warning to those who do not treat the Earth and her creatures with kindness. For ‘those who destroy the Earth shall be destroyed.’

Well, we’ve already destroyed 2/3 the globe’s predatory fish that humans eat through over-fishing alone. But the kind of ocean-wrecking destruction of callously-over-fishing pales in comparison to what happens when the short-sighted protection of money in the form of ‘legacy fossil fuel assets’ forces the dumping of billions of tons of toxic carbon into the world’s airs and waters. If you do that, then the ocean really does turn blood-red and purple-red. If you do that, you unleash the mass extinction machine that was the killing mechanism in four of the five great die offs in Earth’s deep history. You begin to temp the fates by invoking the names Permian, Triassic, Devonian, and Ordovician. And if you allow the fossil fuel powers to keep on doing it for the sake of their imagined wealth, then you make the oceans so acidic that the skeletons of the fragile and yet ever-so-beautiful and necessary creatures living within the world’s waters dissolve.

Florida’s Coral Reefs Start to Dissolve

Here, we’ve frequently warned of the two-pronged threat posed to global coral reefs as a result of human fossil fuel burning. In the south, as oceans heat up due to fossil fuel emissions, coral bleaching begins to take hold. Becoming more pervasive as temperatures rise into a range between 1 and 2 C above preindustrial averages, by the 2030s about 90 percent of the world’s reefs will fall under threat of ghosting away into whiteness.

This year, we saw some of these stark consequences begin to unfold as the Great Barrier Reef suffered a horrific bleaching event. This kind of event was predicted and expected by ocean researchers. Brave scientists who acted as modern-day prophets in their issuing of warnings to Australian and global governments. Governments which are now, in so many cases, stacked to the gills (due to the corrupting influence of fossil fuel money mentioned earlier) with the political extremists we today call climate change deniers.

The second prong of the threat to global reefs comes in the form of ocean acidification spreading down from the north. Because waters in northern regions of the world are colder, they are able to take in more of the excess greenhouse gasses produced. As more carbon is drawn into these colder waters, their acidity increases to the point that ocean organisms with calcium carbonate skeletons begin to see those skeletons dissolve. And corals are one of many key ocean organisms that possess calcium carbonate skeletal structures.



(A global ocean acidification front resulting from a rampant burning of fossil fuels is starting to dissolve higher latitude reef systems. The Carysfort Reef — above — has had numerous coral structures completely dismembered due to ocean acidification creeping into this section of the Florida Reef. Image source: Science Daily.)

Until recently, the threat of ocean acidification to reef systems was still thought to be at least a couple of decades off. And many mainstream scientists believed that acidification would not seriously threaten corals until the 2050s. Unfortunately, a new study has found that the United States’ only large reef — stretching from Biscayne Bay to the Looe Key National Marine Sanctuary in the Atlantic Ocean — is now starting to waste away due to ocean acidification. A surprising event that researchers are saying is disturbing, unprecedented, and unexpectedly soon.

According to a recent article in National Geographic:

University of Miami scientists called the collapse of the reef’s limestone framework, a critical habitat for fish, “unprecedented” and “cause for alarm.” “Lots of scientists think that ocean acidification is not going to be a problem until 2050 or 2060,” says Chris Langdon, a marine biology professor at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. “This is happening now. We’ve just lost 35 years we thought we had to turn things around.”

In essence, the reef is wasting away. During the Spring and Summer, reef-building corals bloom and produce the calcium carbonate (limestone) structure that is the body of the Florida Reef. During Fall and Winter, however, reef building activity halts and the newly acidified water begins to take limestone away. The study found that the rate of loss now exceeds the rate of gain. The corals aren’t able to keep up, the reef has reached a tipping point, and the limestone structures the corals rely on for life is dissolving.

The Florida Reef is one of the highest Latitude coral reef structures in the world. But if it is starting to succumb to ocean acidification now, it means the progress of the acidification front is presently, during 2016, starting to enter regions the corals inhabit. If fossil fuel burning continues and atmospheric CO2 concentrations — this year peaking at around 408 parts per million at the Mauna Loa Observatory — continue to rise, it won’t be long before a growing portion of the world’s reefs begin to succumb to effects similar to those now destroying the Florida Reef.

And while coral bleaching is a condition that reefs have at least some chance to recover from, acidification is inevitably lethal. Once a certain oceanic carbon concentration is reached, acidification impacts the reef for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, robbing it of the very skeletal structures necessary for coral survival. And since about 1/4 of all the fish in all the world’s oceans (not just the large, predatory fish we eat) rely on coral reef systems for their own life-giving habitats, the loss of coral reefs would truly be a disaster of biblical proportion.

Hot Pacific Ocean Runs Bloody off the Coast of Chile

Back during March, another lethal ocean condition associated with a warming of the world’s waters began to appear in the ocean zone off the southern coast of Chile. There, a massive algae bloom spread over a region where sea surface temperatures were ranging between 1 and 3 C hotter than normal.



(Abnormally warm sea surface temperatures driven by human forced climate change sparked a the largest red tide ever witnessed off the coast of Chile. The image above shows sea surface temperature anomalies as recorded in late March of 2016 by Earth Nullschool.)

The algae bloom — called a red tide — generated toxic levels of domoic acid that subsequently killed off massive amounts of clams, fish, and even marine mammals. Beaches across Chile were littered with dead sea creatures and Chilean officials are now saying that the current red tide is the worst ever to occur off Chile.

The red tide forced Chilean officials to ground the nation’s fishing fleets — sparking mass riots and protests as thousands of poor fishermen lost access to their means of generating a livelihood. The Chilean government has since offered 150 million dollars in aid to the fishermen. But locals say it’s not enough to make ends meet. The severe blow to the fishing industry, which makes up 0.5 percent of Chile’s GDP, will also negatively effect the Chilean economy. This severe red tide has lasted for months now. But recent reports indicate that the bloom is growing larger as more and more sea life succumbs.

Very bad and shocking news I'd say.

Florida....Red State....meh.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Any updates?

 

[westwall]

Any updates?

We are all dead. We are now holograms...

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Any updates?

We are all dead. We are now holograms...

The warming oceans boiled off the pH...science!!

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Ocean Acidification

Ocean acidification is sometimes called “climate change’s equally evil twin,” and for good reason: it's a significant and harmful consequence of excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that we don't see or feel because its effects are happening underwater. At least one-quarter of the carbon dioxide (CO2) released by burning coal, oil and gas doesn't stay in the air, but instead dissolves into the ocean. Since the beginning of the industrial era, the ocean has absorbed some 525 billion tons of CO2 from the atmosphere, presently around 22 million tons per day.

At first, scientists thought that this might be a good thing because it leaves less carbon dioxide in the air to warm the planet. But in the past decade, they’ve realized that this slowed warming has come at the cost of changing the ocean’s chemistry. When carbon dioxide dissolves in seawater, the water becomes more acidic and the ocean’s pH (a measure of how acidic or basic the ocean is) drops. Even though the ocean is immense, enough carbon dioxide can have a major impact. In the past 200 years alone, ocean water has become 30 percent more acidic—faster than any known change in ocean chemistry in the last 50 million years.

A good article from a credible source.

Is ocean acidification still a thing?

Is the oceans 25% + CO2 absorption still settled science?

 

[CrusaderFrank]

How much CO2 is needed to drop ocean pH by .01?

 

[Crick]

So an "acid" that instantly disassociates upon contact with the water is bleaching the corals?

Really?

1) Bleaching coral is not like bleaching your laundry. It is caused by the expulsion of the symbiotic zooxanthellae algae which are required for coral to thrive. Coral expels the algae when water temperatures become too high.
2) All acids disassociate in water. They are all ionic compounds.
3) HOW do you remain this abysmally ignorant?

 

[CrusaderFrank]

1) Bleaching coral is not like bleaching your laundry. It is caused by the expulsion of the symbiotic zooxanthellae algae which are required for coral to thrive. Coral expels the algae when water temperatures become too high.
2) All acids disassociate in water. They are all ionic compounds.
3) HOW do you remain this abysmally ignorant?

Can you walk me through the math and chemistry?

 

[CrusaderFrank]

1) Bleaching coral is not like bleaching your laundry. It is caused by the expulsion of the symbiotic zooxanthellae algae which are required for coral to thrive. Coral expels the algae when water temperatures become too high.
2) All acids disassociate in water. They are all ionic compounds.
3) HOW do you remain this abysmally ignorant?

Any help on chemistry and math on ocean "acidification"?

 

[ReinyDays]

Any help on chemistry and math on ocean "acidification"?

Well ... one of the chemical reactions is CO2 + H2O <-> HCO3(-) + H(+) ... notice this is an equilibrium reaction, so pH will depend on temperature ... this is also a very slow reaction, open a can of soda pop and watch it go "flat" ... kitchen counter chemistry ... the other reaction follows the Krebs Cycle et al and this produces deoxyribonucleic acid ...

Ocean H concentration changes by a 1,000-fold depending on the season and the ocean ... pH from 4 to 10 ... so the notion that a tiny tiny change in atmospheric carbon dioxide is causing any problems is ridiculous ...

The fact remains, only coral that's regularly visited by human divers are in trouble ... those away from tourist hot spots are in good shape still ... science is looking at something the filthy humans are emitting or just plain old titanium dioxide in sunscreen ...

Overfishing is why the ocean environments are in trouble ... and only a liar would say otherwise ...

 

[westwall]

Well ... one of the chemical reactions is CO2 + H2O <-> HCO3(-) + H(+) ... notice this is an equilibrium reaction, so pH will depend on temperature ... this is also a very slow reaction, open a can of soda pop and watch it go "flat" ... kitchen counter chemistry ... the other reaction follows the Krebs Cycle et al and this produces deoxyribonucleic acid ...

Ocean H concentration changes by a 1,000-fold depending on the season and the ocean ... pH from 4 to 10 ... so the notion that a tiny tiny change in atmospheric carbon dioxide is causing any problems is ridiculous ...

The fact remains, only coral that's regularly visited by human divers are in trouble ... those away from tourist hot spots are in good shape still ... science is looking at something the filthy humans are emitting or just plain old titanium dioxide in sunscreen ...

Overfishing is why the ocean environments are in trouble ... and only a liar would say otherwise ...

Over fishing, and real pollution. There is no acidification issue.

That too is a lie.

 

[beautress]

Pollution of the oceans by plastics aren't helping the world fishery markets. I'll start with a world map with names of the bodies of water in the oceans.

Next, here's a world sketch of gyres or accumulation areas of plastic refuse that shouldn't be there:

Same thing with Ocean currents

Turtles that confuse plastics with food:

​

© naturepl.com / Alex Mustard / WWF



© Philipp Kanstinger / WWF
Plastic has only been mass-produced since the 1940s, but it’s having a devastating impact on sea turtles.
Research suggests that 52% of the world’s turtles have eaten plastic waste. The reasons are simple: a floating plastic bag can look like a lot of jellyfish, algae, or other species that make up a large component of the sea turtles’ diets.
All sea turtle species are at risk from plastic.
The carnivorous loggerhead and mainly plant-eating green turtle both were shown to be consuming plastic in alarming quantities, according to a study from the University of Tokyo.
In fact, loggerheads ate plastic 17% of the time they encountered it, likely mistaking it for jellyfish. This figure rocketed to 62% for green turtles probably on the hunt for algae.
However, it’s not just ingesting plastic that causes problems for turtles. Entanglement in abandoned fishing nets can easily kill them through drowning or preventing individuals from escaping predators or hunting.
Tragically, the accumulation of plastics at key nesting beaches means that baby turtles are among the most at risk from plastic entanglement, preventing them from reaching the sea.

What do sea turtles eat? Unfortunately, plastic bags.

Plastic has only been mass-produced since the 1940s, but it’s having a devastating impact on sea turtles. Many of us are doing our part to reduce plastic pollution by recycling and reducing single-use items, but governments must also step up to take accountability and end this pollution epidemic.

www.worldwildlife.org

​

 

[beautress]

Fish markets around the world are showing problematic survivals with plastic
pollutants below

Good evening, everybody.

 

[Billy_Bob]

So an "acid" that instantly disassociates upon contact with the water is bleaching the corals?

Really?

People have no concept of science... it's all scary mongering hype from the left. While we ignore the real problems in the oceans.

 

[ozro]

I hope the sky didn't fall and I missed it.
Thread is from 6 years ago, I'm sure the oceans are so acidic by now they are just a giant battery.

 

[ReinyDays]

Pollution of the oceans by plastics aren't helping the world fishery markets. I'll start with a world map with names of the bodies of water in the oceans.

View attachment 696825

Next, here's a world sketch of gyres or accumulation areas of plastic refuse that shouldn't be there:

View attachment 696828

Same thing with Ocean currents

View attachment 696831
Turtles that confuse plastics with food:

View attachment 696832 View attachment 696833
​

© naturepl.com / Alex Mustard / WWF



© Philipp Kanstinger / WWF
Plastic has only been mass-produced since the 1940s, but it’s having a devastating impact on sea turtles.
Research suggests that 52% of the world’s turtles have eaten plastic waste. The reasons are simple: a floating plastic bag can look like a lot of jellyfish, algae, or other species that make up a large component of the sea turtles’ diets.
All sea turtle species are at risk from plastic.
The carnivorous loggerhead and mainly plant-eating green turtle both were shown to be consuming plastic in alarming quantities, according to a study from the University of Tokyo.
In fact, loggerheads ate plastic 17% of the time they encountered it, likely mistaking it for jellyfish. This figure rocketed to 62% for green turtles probably on the hunt for algae.
However, it’s not just ingesting plastic that causes problems for turtles. Entanglement in abandoned fishing nets can easily kill them through drowning or preventing individuals from escaping predators or hunting.
Tragically, the accumulation of plastics at key nesting beaches means that baby turtles are among the most at risk from plastic entanglement, preventing them from reaching the sea.

What do sea turtles eat? Unfortunately, plastic bags.

Plastic has only been mass-produced since the 1940s, but it’s having a devastating impact on sea turtles. Many of us are doing our part to reduce plastic pollution by recycling and reducing single-use items, but governments must also step up to take accountability and end this pollution epidemic.

www.worldwildlife.org

​

If you think that's bad ... walk around your neighborhood and look for plastic garbage on the ground ... that's right, it's everyplace ... there's plastic garbage on the fucking Moon these days ...

I'm sure the cute adorable animals with infantile faces being hurt by garbage will evoke an emotional responses from all the little girls ... but what about all the baby phytoplankton with plastic pieces small enough to be contained within the cytoplasm? ... that's got to hurt ... algae isn't cute, but that's no reason to ignore their suffering ... this is the same as one of us having a few empty Aunt Jemima bottles stuck inside our intestines or against our liver .... ewwwwwwwwwwwwww ...

On the bright side ... plastic is made of reduced carbon ... an extremely valuable natural resource ... bacteria can eat it, or will soon evolve to eat it ... as soon as the world is full of plastic-eating bacteria, then plastic won't be of any use to us ... ha ha ... problem solved ...

 

[Woodznutz]

If people don't care about themselves, why would they care about anything else. Above all man is destructive, and self-destructive. There is no hope. Even those who pretend to care have hired the foxes to guard the henhouse.

 

[Woodznutz]

I hope the sky didn't fall and I missed it.
Thread is from 6 years ago, I'm sure the oceans are so acidic by now they are just a giant battery.

Naw. All the fresh water from the current giant rainstorms flowing into it have diluted it to safe levels.