What do you understand by Ocean Acidification? Why it is one of the major causes of concern among environmentalists?


  1. Decrease in the pH of the Earth's oceans, caused by the uptake of CO2 from the atmosphere. 
  2. Some of it (CO2) reacts with the water to form carbonic acid
  3. Acidity levels have risen by 30 percent since the start of the industrial era, and  now highest levels in at least 55 million yrs.
  4. A range of possibly harmful consequences, such as depressing metabolic rate and immune response in some organisms, and causing coral bleaching.
  5. Resulting decrease in pH will have negative consequences, primarily for oceanic calcifying organisms 
  6. However it may benefit some species, for example increasing the growth rate of the sea star, Pisaster ochraceus,[49] while shelled plankton species may flourish in altered oceans
  7. Impacts on oceanic calcifying organisms, Impact on human industry, Impact on indigenous peoples (reduce tourism -- economic life)
  8. Mitigations - long term Reducing CO2 emissions, Climate engineering, Iron Fertilizers.
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