It is often claimed by the AGW camp that because of human derived CO2 emissions the oceans are soaking up more CO2 than they can handle. This they claim is turning the pH  acidic which has a detrimental effect on many marine species and in particular coral reefs.

 

These type of scare stories have been prolific in the mainstream media and if you have watched any of the countless documentaries that have aired on screens around the world over the last 30 years or so, as most of us have, you will be very familiar with such terrifying claims.

 

The effect and therefore the purpose of such catastrophic predictions is to shut down logical thought through the process of induced fear.

 

A simple response to such a lofty claim as “human CO2 emissions are causing ocean acidification” would be something like: “How do todays CO2 levels of 385 ppmv compare to historical CO2 levels?”

 

The answer is that simply put, they do not compare. CO2 levels are currently at historically low levels, not much above plant suffocation levels of 200 ppmv and below. Throughout the history of life on Earth carbon-dioxide levels have on average been in the thousands of parts per million not hundreds. If current levels of 385 ppmv could really turn the oceans acidic destroying coral reefs there would in-fact be no coral reefs in the first place.

 

In truth, the entire ocean floor is made of an extremely effective alkaline forming mineral rock material which acts as a natural buffer to acidification.

 

Carbon-dioxide in the warmed atmosphere is removed by water vapour as it convects up to cloud level and is dissolved into the clouds of water vapour, forming carbonic acid. During this process the heat that caused the air to rise and particularly for this discussion, the heat absorbed by the CO2, is lost to the colder upper atmosphere at and above cloud level at altitudes of around 5000+ m. This heat loss is responsible to a large degree for the formation of rain. As the water dissolves the CO2 the photons of infrared energy are emitted and cooling occurs. This cooling encourages water vapour to condense into water droplets and fall as rain. When the acidic rain finally reaches the oceans either directly or via rivers and tributaries, the acidity in the rain water mixes with the alkaline sea water causing a reaction which neutralizes the carbonic acid and produces salt and frees up the carbon, making it available for recycling back into the organic life-cycle for which carbon molecules are the building blocks. This is why the oceans contain salt water and at the same time are teaming with life. It is a process which has been going on since the beginning of time.

 

So as we know, current CO2 levels are only 385 ppmv, but as we also know, CO2 has historically been at levels which average in the thousands of parts per million. The oceans are the largest sink for CO2 on Earth. In the past they will have absorbed almost twenty times more CO2 they they are currently absorbing without becoming acidic.

 

These assertions can be tested and proven valid by doing the following:

 

Take two plastic buckets and in one place two inches of gravel in the bottom. From any good hydroponics supplier purchase some soluble CO2 tablets and a pH testing kit.

 

Now fill both buckets with rain water and check the pH of both. Leave for 24 hours and check the pH again. Then start adding the CO2 tablets equally at a rate of between 5-10 at a time. Check the pH throughout this experiment and you will find that no matter how much CO2 you add to the bucket with the gravel, it will always be alkaline when you go back and test it. The other bucket without the gravel will continue to become more and more acidic however.

 

But don’t take my word for it go and test it for yourselves.