Ocean Acidification

[Roger Long]

Today's (Nov 24) Portland Press Herald has a front page story about the issue I did water sampling for with my son in May and again in September. It's about a different group of scientists but a good introduction to an issue we'll be hearing more and more about. They are already observing clams dissolving in Casco Bay.

If you aren't in the PPH distribution area, you can read it online here:

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=297976&ac=PHnws

The stories about our sampling trips are at:

http://www.rogerlongboats.com/images/SciencePlan.pdf
http://issuu.com/pointseast/docs/september_issuu
http://www.rogerlongboats.com/2009September.htm

 

[Quoddy]

Human waste

For obvious reasons it’s illegal to dump human waste products from your holding tank in an area that can’t handle it. This fossil fuel acid degradation of the ocean is the result of the same dumping of human waste products in an area that can’t handle it, the area just happens to be the whole ocean.
We really do have to stop this fossil thing.
Your logs were fun to read.

 

[KD3PC]

I have seen similar reports in the dive magazines, sail magazines and many of the mainstream media...is it real or just the next big thing upon which to shout "fire"..odd they are all coming out at the same time, tells me this is a "planned" message....

Don't get me wrong, we need to stop ruining the planet, but I grow tired of all the experts that can not model what has happened this year or the past decade and yet want to model the future.

The recent media blast of stolen emails and IPCC exchanges tell me that the science is not settled on the problem..if I were a scientist, I would focus on solutions not some wild hypothesis that can not stand. But then I really think it comes down to either money, control or politics on someone's part, they are not interested in the reality.

They are not looking for solutions..and we should be.
smaller footprint
less pollution
etc

for ALL of us, and EACH of us regardless of country, means..or anything else

 

[Roger Long]

.is it real or just the next big thing upon which to shout "fire"..odd they are all coming out at the same time, tells me this is a "planned" message....

Climate is exceedingly complex and difficult to model which provides plenty of wiggle room for the denial faction. The chemistry of shell production, on the other hand, is dead simple. Even I was able to more or less follow it as it was explained to my son during the project. It is as predictable as mixing baking soda and vinegar together. As Ph increases, it gets harder and harder to pump calcium up against the chemical gradient so it takes more and more energy to produce the shells. That creates stress and increases energy requirements at a time when other changes are making food scarcer in most ecosystems. The additional energy expended makes the critter more vulnerable to disease, just as you are more likely to get sick when tired or stressed.

When Ph reaches a certain level, shell productions simply becomes impossible. Increase acidity above that level and shells simply start to disolve back into the water as has already been observed in Casco Bay clams. This is very simple chemistry that can be reproduced in a test tube and not the unbelievably complex super computer models needed to predict overall climate change.

The ocean Ph levels and their changes have been tracked for years for other reasons. The critical levels are known and based on science too simple and basic to be a subject of dispute. What has only been realized recently is how narrow the gap is and how fast it is closing.

Denial is the political position and planned message on climate change. The scientist most quoted by the deniers was on the radio the other day saying his statements were being taken out of context. He said, "If my name wasn't (I've forgotten) it would be Climate Change".

 

[Ross]

Roger , PH levels are measured from 7.
7 being neutral and descending numbers are increasingly acidic and numbers above 7 are alkaline. Vinegar will dissolve egg shell but baking soda will not harm an egg shell. The scale is logarithmic with 6 being 10x more acidic the 7 and 5 being 10x more acidic than 6.