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Dr. Frank Millero, professor of marine and
atmospheric chemistry at the Rosenstiel School and author of the study,
has compiled a complete review of the carbon dioxide system ranging
from the potential outcomes of the increase in dissolved inorganic
carbon dioxide in the oceans, to the increase in hurricane intensity
scientists feel may occur over the next hundred years. The paper aims
to consolidate research that has addressed how carbon dioxide
emissions since the industrial revolution have dramatically changed
natural patterns in atmospheric and oceanic ecosystems.
"This paper is really a broad look at where
scientific research is going in the future and where we need to invest
more time and energy," Millero said. "With oceanic and atmospheric
carbon dioxide being the highest it has ever been in over 600,000
years, scientists are going to be looking at a lot of damage to
natural food webs, coral dissolution, and widespread species
extinction in the future."
Carbon dioxide, the gas most responsible for the
Earth’s increase in average global temperature, and most associated
with anthropogenic disturbances, will affect nature’s ability to
sustain life both above and below the waves. Millero points out that
the gradual acidification of seawater, a process already occurring to
varying extents, could eventually lead to oceans incapable of
fostering life for mammals, fish, and even gastropods; those organisms
which grow calcium carbonate shells for protection. Pteropods, tiny
shelled marine organisms which secrete natural carbon dioxide may be
one of the best ways to determine growing ocean acidification due to
their high sensitivity to ocean pH. If these organisms one day
disappear, their natural predators will be forced to migrate elsewhere
for food sources. This could have large-scale effects on the
availability of fish and carbon saturation in oceanic regions.
Though the paper covers many of the potential
problems associated with the ocean’s uptake of inorganic carbon
dioxide that may arise over the next century, it also provides some
insights into what we can do to ameliorate the damage that has already
taken place.
"The possibility of naturally disposing of
inorganic carbon dioxide is a very important and capable process. More
research needs to be done on the viability of some of the more known
methods, but for starters, doubling gas mileage for cars in the U.S.
would make a difference." |
