Impact of Acid Rain on Global Oceans
With funding provided by the National Science Foundation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, studies have been conducted by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute on the impact of acid rain on the global oceans. It has been shown that sulfur and nitrogen emitted into the atmosphere by power plants and farming plays a smaller role in the acidification of the world’s oceans while the effect is magnified in the shallower waters of coastal areas.
Sea water is somewhat basic with a pH ordinarily between 7.5 and 8.4. However, the surface of the ocean is 0.1 pH units lower than it was prior to the Industrial Revolution, and research has indicated that pH will decline another 0.3 to 0.4 units over the rest of the century, for a total increase in acidity of 100% to 150%
The increasing acidity of ocean water is a result of carbon dioxide, sulfur, and nitrogen mixing in the water, lowering the pH value and reducing the storage of carbon in the water. With the increased acidity, marine organisms such as sea urchins, coral, and some types of plankton have a more difficult time utilizing calcium carbonate in the formation of hard outer shells or exoskeletons. Because of their role in providing food and habitat for other animals, their declining populations could adversely impact the larger ocean environment. Coastal areas, which are some of the most vulnerable and seriously affected regions of the ocean due to pollution, overfishing, and global warming, show the most pronounced effects of acid rain.
Previously, research has been conducted just on the effects of fossil fuel emissions and the part played by carbon dioxide in the acidification of the ocean, but this study examined the role of nitrogen. Nitrogen, as well as acidifying the ocean waters, encourages increased growth of phytoplankton and other marine flora, leading to more harmful algal blooms and the development of “dead zones ” where the water becomes depleted of oxygen.
Farming, livestock raising, and the burning of fossil fuel result in sulfur dioxide, ammonia and nitrogen dioxides being released into the atmosphere to become nitric and sulfuric acids. While some falls to the ground, some is blown by the wind to coastal ocean areas. With the addition of the sulfur and nitrogen compounds, the chemistry of the water changes from 10 to 50 percent of the amount of the change created by carbon dioxide. The most seriously impacted ocean areas are typically downwind of power plants, especially those powered by coal, and mainly on the eastern areas of North America, Europe and south and east of Asia.
This entry was posted on Friday, September 21st, 2007 at 6:31 am and is filed under Mars News, Public Relations, Space Agency News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
