Ocean Acidification Essay

Ocean acidification is killing off the oyster population, which is also affecting the jobs in Washington. Initially, ocean acidification is when acidic gases are emitted into the air and absorbed into the ocean. According to the video Ocean Acidification by NOAA, ¼ of all the carbon dioxide release into the air is absorbed into the oceans. Some major contributors to carbon emissions are automobile gas and factory emissions. This is a problem in the Pacific Northwest because acid sinks to the bottom, but Pacific winds bring acidic water up from the bottom near the shore by the shellfish.

Around 150 years ago, humans started releasing fossil fuels into the atmosphere during the industrial revolution. The ocean takes up a quarter of the gas that surrounds earth by absorbing the CO2 we put in our atmosphere. Scientist thought the ocean was a great resource for getting rid of these CO2 gases in the atmosphere; however, they didn’t know how much these gases where destroying our great ocean. NOVA’s documentary presents, Lethal Seas, a documentary of the destruction of our vast ocean, concentrating on the American northwest coast, Papua New Guinea among the volcanic islands of Milne Bay, and Aurora Australis. The documentary dresses the issue of rising acidity levels in the ocean and its effects.

In the source used, Thomas Hayden’s (2002) article, “Trashing the Oceans”, the ethos argument is persuasive in its wording because of its easy to understand, inviting nature and relatability, while still informing the reader about the disturbing information coming from the accounts of a research vessel that goes by the title Alguita, a vessel that has been studying the oceanic garbage since 1999. This article has already displayed all three arguments of logos, pathos and ethos in just a few paragraphs. The compared article, written by John H. Tibbetts “Managing Marine Plastic Pollution” does not do this. An example of the ethos attributes of “Trashing the Oceans” is the introduction pertaining to Taco bell.

Research Paper Over the past couple years the Great Barrier Reef, off the coast of Australia has had a tremendous bleaching event which has affected the coral reefs and marine life. Around the 1990’s to present time scientists that live in the United States have travelled to the coast of Australia to find out why global warming is happening in these areas. This reef is one of the natural wonders being uniquely seen from the Earth's orbit. The rising temperatures in of the water has impacted about 1,400 miles of ecosystem including marine life and coral reefs.

As carbon dioxide is blown into the beaker through the straw the pH level lowers. The universal indicator showed that the added carbon dioxide turned the pH level acidic. If the pH level in the ocean drops to acidic marine life can be harmfully affected. Coral bleaching and the weakening of calcium carbonate shells are both affects of the increase of acidic pH levels. When testing how the pH level affected the shells, we knew a reaction was according due to the bubbling of the shells.

The excess water flowing along the streets picks up litter, oil and other materials, which is then carried into the sea. Majority of the pollution entering the sea is from storm water drains; this is dangerous to the marine life as the water flowing through the storm water is also carrying harmful chemicals that can result in death the creatures. Impacts on the marine life There are a many ocean pollutants that threaten marine life. Pollution leads to unhealthy oceans and even death to the creatures living in it. The concern on ocean pollution is a growing problem that has no clear resolution insight.

Today, most organisms are living in a marine ecosystem. For example, an estimated 50-80% of all life on earth is found under the ocean surface. This may be due to the fact the ocean accounts for 99% of Earth’s living space. With so much life and biodiversity going on, there are bound to be problems; problems that can affect the organisms in and out of the water.

But too much of CO2 can cause the oceans marine life to die and unable to survive. The pH level of the ocean averages about 8.2 and it’s changing by the amount of pollution around the ocean. In a healthy ocean there is some acid water in it but not enough to kill the marine life. But cars and factories produce too much CO2 by burning fossil fuels.

As observations were conducted on multiple reefs, however, a major decline in the water quality and coral coverage of reefs worldwide had declined dramatically. It was upon these observations that the reefs ability to self sustain was questioned (P. Harris, 2012). Their structure is resilient to most natural disturbances, however, they are extremely vulnerable to human interference such as the nutrient contamination of their water quality that has occurred. The contamination this study focuses on is as a result of fertiliser and other nutrient rich pollution which have contaminated these coral sanctuaries. This contamination has lead to great loss of coral coverage.

Therefore, the impact of overfishing and illegal collecting of coral may destroyed the social and economic well-being of the coastal communities who depend on fish for their way of life. Beside, it is also direct overexploitation of fish, intertebrates, and algae for food and the aquarium trade, removal of a species or group of species impacting multiple trophic levels, bycatch and mortality of nontarget species, and change from coral to algal dominance due to reduction in herbivores (Reef Resilience Organisation,

You all have been hearing don’t pollute your whole life, but it still happens. Pollution is a huge problem especially in the ocean, the ocean plays a vital role to our survival and with all polluting it, it causes problems for us in the long run. Pollution causes a lot of damage to the ecosystems that live in the ocean and the ocean itself. When the oil spill happened in the Gulf of Mexico that was a bad disaster, that was man made that hurt an ecosystem in ocean. All that oil spread throughout the ocean causing a lack of sunlight to penetrate through the water deep making it hard for plants to grow and or prosper.

Assignmen#1 Title: Acidification of oceans Name: Attiqa Khaliq Father name: Muhammad Khaliq Roll no: 0061-BH-BIO-T-2014 Subject: Environmental Sciences Submitted to: Dr Faiza Sharif Government College University (Lahore) Acidification of Oceans For millions of years, Earth’s oceans have maintained a relatively stable acidity level. Research shows that a recent and rapid drop in surface pH that could have shocking global consequences through the distortion of the ocean’s acidity. Since the beginning of the industrial revolution fossil fuel-powered machines is used .The

In addition to the biological processes described in section 5, chemical interactions known as the physical pump between the atmosphere and ocean lead to carbon uptake. When dissolved in seawater, carbon dioxide forms carbonate and bicarbonate ions. Greater quantities of carbon can be stored in this form than the form found in the atmosphere, and consequently, the global oceans are able to store more than a quarter of carbon dioxide produced by humans. The Southern Ocean is believed to store up to half of this carbon. Given the central role of carbon uptake in mitigating the greenhouse effect, this function of the Antarctic hydrosphere has a vital moderating effect on the global climate

The ocean is nowadays undergoing numerous environmental issues that further lead to marine pollution. Marine pollution is a very serious environmental issue that most of the countries of the world encounter. Aquatic littering is considered as one of the major causes of marine environment. The misleading use of the marine environment is extremely impacting the marine life and ecosystems. Moreover, the total amount of toxins and debris discharged by human beings is incredibly increasing in today 's world.

INTRODUCTION {5 mrks} - (1 min) This is our ocean… once a city full of diverse ecosystems sustaining life from microscopic to the largest animal that has ever lived on Earth, ... now a barren wasteland. The ecological systems beneath our feet play a vital role in our everyday lives; producing half the oxygen we breathe and absorbing 30% of carbon dioxide emitted from the atmosphere. An issue that has too often been shied away is the fact that our ocean is undergoing serious environmental changes, which is a disturbance to the economic, social, and physical environment often caused by human influences and natural ecological processes. A variety of human activities lead to this change, including agriculture, urbanisation and tourism.