Re: NANFA-- Southern Ocean soaks up carbon dioxide

Mark B (mbinkley_at_earthling.net)
Sat, 29 Jan 2000 23:09:36 -0500

At 4:50 PM -0800 1/28/00, Shireen Gonzaga wrote:
> Manmade carbon dioxide is being soaked up by the
>cold waters of the Southern Ocean and transported to
>the deep waters of the subtropical ocean, researchers
>report in today's issue of Science.
>
> The thirst-quencher, it turns out, might not be kind
>to the marine environment. Manmade carbon dioxide
>makes the water more acidic. The acidity is corrosive
>to calcium carbonate, an essential ingredient of
>shells and coral reefs.
>
>For more, see
>http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/2000/01/01282000/socean_9486.asp

Just shooting off my mouth here, but I would think the buffering capacity
of the oceans would be huge. Wonder if the acid generated is anywhere near
sufficient to overcome that buffering?

Mark Binkley
Columbus Ohio USA <))><
mbinkley_at_earthling.net

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