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Water is the medium of the oceans, the medium which carries all the substances and elements involved in the marine biogeochemical cycles. Water as found in nature almost always includes dissolved substances, so water has been described as the "universal solvent" for its ability to dissolve so many substances.
However, unlike many other gases (oxygen for instance), it reacts with water and forms a balance of several ionic and non-ionic species (collectively known as dissolved inorganic carbon, or DIC). These are dissolved free carbon dioxide (CO 2 (aq)), carbonic acid (H 2 CO 3), bicarbonate (HCO 3 −) and carbonate (CO 3 2−), and they interact ...
In the ocean by volume, the most abundant gases dissolved in seawater are carbon dioxide (including bicarbonate and carbonate ions, 14 mL/L on average), nitrogen (9 mL/L), and oxygen (5 mL/L) at equilibrium at 24 °C (75 °F) [124] [125] [126] All gases are more soluble – more easily dissolved – in colder water than in warmer water. For ...
Abiotic changes in dissolved gases can dominate changes of dissolved gases if the lake has a low metabolic rate (e.g. oligotrophic lake, cloudy day), or if there is a large event that causes abiotic factors to exceed biotic (e.g. wind event causing mixing and entrainment of low-oxygenated water). Biotic signals in dissolved gases are most ...
CaCO 3 is supersatured in the great majority of ocean surface waters and undersaturated at depth, [10] meaning the shells are more likely to dissolve as they sink to ocean depths. CaCO 3 can also be dissolved through metabolic dissolution (i.e. can be used as food and excreted) and thus deep ocean sediments have very little calcium carbonate. [16]
Encouraging various ocean layers to mix can move nutrients and dissolved gases around. [147] Mixing may be achieved by placing large vertical pipes in the oceans to pump nutrient rich water to the surface, triggering blooms of algae , which store carbon when they grow and export [ clarification needed ] carbon when they die.
Sea slugs respire through a gill (or ctenidium). Aquatic respiration is the process whereby an aquatic organism exchanges respiratory gases with water, obtaining oxygen from oxygen dissolved in water and excreting carbon dioxide and some other metabolic waste products into the water.
The microlayer is known for its unique biological and chemical properties which give it a small ecosystem of its own and serves as a distinct habitat from the deeper ocean waters. The surface microlayer is not in fact entirely aqueous like the rest of the ocean, but is closer to a kind of hydrated gel composed of concentrated nutrients forming ...