The Changes in the Ocean

The Changes in the Ocean

It's a well-known fact that the oceans cover two-thirds of our planet, provide half the oxygen we breathe and moderate our climate. They also provide medicine and food including twenty percent of protein to feed the entire world population.

Bearing this in mind, there's a problem that's changing our oceans called ocean acidification, the oceans have absorbed twenty-five percent of all of the carbon dioxide that we have emitted to the atmosphere. As more carbon dioxide enters the ocean, the seawater pH goes down, this is happening alongside climate change, this is directly as a result of human activities.

Consequently, there has already been an increase in ocean acidity of twenty-six percent since pre-industrial times. Unless we can start slowing down our carbon dioxide emissions, it's expected an increase in ocean acidity of one hundred seventy percent by the end of this century. This rate of acidification is ten times faster than any acidification in our oceans for over fifty-five million years.

Last but not least, as ocean acidity increases, the concentration of carbonate ions in seawater decrease. These ions are basically the building blocks for many marine species to make their shells, for example crabs or mussels, oysters. Therefore, as the concentration of carbonate ions decrease, these species will find more difficult to make their shells. And at even lower levels, they can actually begin to dissolve. Another example are corals, they also need these carbonate ions in seawater to make their coral structure in order to build coral reefs, which support twenty-five percent of all marine life in the entire ocean.

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