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A pteropod shell is shown dissolving over time in seawater with a lower pH. When carbon dioxide is absorbed by the ocean from the atmosphere, the chemistry of the seawater is changed (source: NOAA) Pterapod shell dissolved in seawater adjusted to an ocean chemistry projected for the year 2100 (source: NOAA).
In order to enter the ocean, carbon dioxide gas has to partition into one of the components of carbonic acid: carbonate ion, bicarbonate ion, or protonated carbonic acid, and the product of these many chemical dissociation constants factors into a "back-pressure" that limits how fast the carbon dioxide can enter the surface ocean.
In the ocean, wave and wind movement allows carbon dioxide (CO 2) to mixes with water (H 2 O) forming carbonic acid (H 2 CO 3). Through wave motion this chemical bond is mixed up, allowing for the further break of the bond, eventually becoming carbonate (CO 3 ) which is basic and helps form shells for ocean creatures, and two hydron molecules.
Between 1950 and 2020, the average pH of the ocean surface fell from approximately 8.15 to 8.05. [21] Carbon dioxide emissions from human activities are the primary cause of ocean acidification, with atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2) levels exceeding 422 ppm (as of 2024). [22] CO 2 from the atmosphere is absorbed by the oceans.
Example Bjerrum plot: Change in carbonate system of seawater from ocean acidification.. A Bjerrum plot (named after Niels Bjerrum), sometimes also known as a Sillén diagram (after Lars Gunnar Sillén), or a Hägg diagram (after Gunnar Hägg) [1] is a graph of the concentrations of the different species of a polyprotic acid in a solution, as a function of pH, [2] when the solution is at ...
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Carbon dioxide and methane are examples of greenhouse gases. The additional greenhouse effect leads to ocean warming because the ocean takes up most of the additional heat in the climate system. [3] The ocean also absorbs some of the extra carbon dioxide that is in the atmosphere. This causes the pH value of the seawater to drop. [4]
Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere equilibrates and dissolves into the ocean. During this reaction, carbon dioxide reacts with water to form carbonic acid. The carbonic acid then dissociates into bicarbonate ions and hydrogen ions. [3] This reaction causes the pH of the water to lower, effectively acidifying it. [3]