Monday, February 02, 2009
Thoughts on the Ocean Getting Less Alkaline
This has been a concern with fides lector, T, for a few years now, so I thought, what the heck, might as well link to an article about it. My questions, still unanswered, are: If the added CO2 helps the algae which is symbiotic with the coral but the lessened alkalinity hurts the shell building capacity, is it still a bad thing? Where does the carbon in calcite and calcium carbonate (which make up the inner structure of coral and sea shells) come from? Obviously more to learn.
Money quote:
There seems to be no shortage of theories about how rising CO2 levels will destroy the planet, yet the geological record shows that life flourished for hundreds of millions of years with much higher CO2 levels and temperatures. This is a primary reason why there are so many skeptics in the geological community. At some point the theorists will have to start paying attention to empirical data.
Someday, indeed.
Labels: Alkaline Seas
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 11:36 AM 
