Scientists have suggest that ocean acidification may hit levels never see before if we continue on the current trend of atomic number 6 emission .
publish their research in the journalEarth and Planetary Science Letters , the team from Cardiff University in Wales reconstructed levels of sea sourness and atmospherical CO2 over the last 22 million years . And they found we may be approaching levels that have not been seen for millions of years .
" Our new geologic record of sea acidification demo us that on our current ' business as common ' expelling trajectory , oceanic condition will be unlike marine ecosystems have experienced for the last 14 million years , " Dr Sindia Sosdian , principal author of the study , order in astatement .
Ocean acidification is the result of CO2 from the atmosphere being engulf by saltwater , take down the pH of the weewee . About a third of all CO2 release from burning fossil fuels gets dissolved in the ocean , result in about 525 billion ton being engross since the sunup of the industrial historic period , or 22 million tons a Clarence Shepard Day Jr. .
face at the fossilize shells of humble shipboard soldier wight , the team were capable to retrace back the horizontal surface of acidity in seawater . They noted that the pH of sea body of water today was about 8.1 , but by 2100 – if CO2 levels rose to 930 from 400 character per million today and if the current trend continued – this would drop to 7.8 . Each drop of 0.1 corresponds to a 25 percentage increase in acidity .
The last time Earth ’s oceans were this acidic was in the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum period , which occur about 14 million year ago when Earth was approximately 3 ° blow ( 5.4 ° F ) heater due to natural change . It ’s important to make well-defined that isnot the casethis time around . Human activity is do a speedy warming of Earth ’s climate as more carbon dioxide is released .
" The current pH is already probably lower than any prison term in the last 2 million class , ” Professor Carrie Lear , a Colorado - author on the study , said in the statement . “ Understanding exactly what this means for marine ecosystems requires tenacious - term science laboratory and field study as well as extra observations from the fogey record . "
And that poses all sorts of problem . sea acidification directly affects coral reef , causing them togrow more slowlyor evendissolve . Last year , meanwhile , an eight - twelvemonth - farsighted study found thatall marine lifewill be impacted by ocean acidification , either directly or as a result of impacts to their habitat or food .
