Oceanography question, please only answer if you truly understand it. I have pos
ID: 177315 • Letter: O
Question
Oceanography question, please only answer if you truly understand it. I have posted this before and I got an incorrect answer...
ocean Impacts of increased Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Atmospheric co2 8 Sea surface Temperature Sea Level Year year Summer Arctic Sea lce E Sea Surface pH D 16 Nov 29 NOAA Coral Reef watch 60x Probability Coral Beaching Thermal stress for Dec-Mar 2017 Esperimental, v10, crSv2-based, 20-member Ensemble ot.ntial at resa Level ch varning Alert Level 1 Alert Level 2 Some recent data 12 OK. So you have taken a course in Oceanography and are discussing global climate change with a friend. You tell this friend that we have to stop emitting so much CO2 into the atmosphere because it's causing an increase in seawater temperature and acidification of seawater. This among other things is leading to the destruction of coral reefs. Explain to your friend why these changes are dangerous to reefs. (10 pts)Explanation / Answer
Due to increase in the CO2 in the atmosphere , the oceans absorb more CO2 and the pH of the ocean is altered. The co2 combines with carbonate fo form H2CO3 . This decreases the pH and also the carbonate concentration in the ocean. The carbonate are necessary for calcification of shells and maintaing the shells. Thus leading to decrease in the coral reef population. when the CO2 concentration increases in air, then the temperature of the air will also increase leading to increase in ocean temperature. This ocean temperature causes bleaching of the coral reefs. Crustose coralline algae which can seen easily because of their red color attracts coral larve for permanent settlement. Because of acidification of ocean the algae gets declined there by affecting the coral recruitment process. The dust above the ocean may carry some nutrients in the air . These dust containing nutrients dissolve in ocean and provide nutrients to reef and other organisms. Due to the acidification of ocean , the solubility of the dust varies and hence the nutrients are not available to them. During stroms , the waters are diverted into the ocean and the chemicals that run from the rivers into the ocean affect the coral reefs. The energy to the coral reef are provided by the Zoozanthellae in the tissue of corals. Due to the increase in the temperature of the ocean the zoozanthellae are killed and corals are devoid of energy leading to decrease in coral reef. Due to the ocean acidification the Reef and diniflagellates association is affected and again the nutrients are not available for reef. The dinoflagellates which are the main energy source for reefs produce energy by photosynthetic water oxidation. This process is also disrupted by acidification due to pH sensitivity of photoprotective mechanisms. Due to this acidification, temperature change , introduction of other chemicals into the ocean leads to decrease in genetically fit species and gradually the desirable genetic characteristics of the reefs gets decreased.
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