“The overall big picture here is that surface water carbon dioxide levels are indeed increasing in the Gulf of Mexico (except in the central Gulf) and human activities are contributing to this acidification,” says Shamberger. “Also, coastal acidification is occurring faster than open ocean acidification, which is especially troubling for coastal coral reef and shellfish ecosystems that support many important fisheries species.”
As the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide continues to rise, our oceans are playing an increasingly important role in absorbing some of this excess. In fact, it was reported recently that the global ocean annually draws down about a third… Read More ›
The ocean sink for carbon won’t be able to keep up with what humans and nature are emitting. “Carbon emissions from fossil-fuel burning is far greater than capacity of oceans to take it up. We are sort of doubling the carbon in the atmosphere on a time scale of 100 years,” he said. “The carbon uptake into the ocean is on the scale of 1,000 years or 10,000 years.”
Contact Staci Matlock at 986-3055 or smatlock@sfnewmexican.com. Follow her on Twitter @StaciMatlock.
Neptune 911! 