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Hi Urlborg. Ocean acidification is driven primarily by the invasion of the ocean by anthropogenic CO2, which shifts the balance of carbonate chemistry in seawater and increases the concentration of hydrogen ions. While sulphur dioxide also decreases ocean pH, it is quantitatively much less important. Not least since the acidification of lakes by SO2 deposition led to the introduction of technologies to remove this gas from flue emissions. If you're looking for a relatively short (but still comprehensive) introduction to the chemistry of ocean acidification, I'd recommend chapter 2 (pages 5-14) from the Royal Society's report on the subject (it can be downloaded as a PDF for free). If you'd like to experiment yourself, I'd recommend downloading one of these carbonate system calculators that allow you to simulate the effects of increasing dissolved inorganic carbon on seawater properties. Cheers, --PLUMBAGO09:04, 1 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Hi Plumbago. Your kind answer neglects all other but carbonic acid acidifications which is a scientific matter of gross neglect. Carbonation is a loosely held temporary state of water, that dissipates prodigiously through simple agitation and is of practically little or no significance to oceanic water properties, Sulphuric, Nitric and other anthropogenic acids are the real concern and most serious ecological problem. The contribution of harmless CO2, both anthropogenic and otherwise is scientifically peripheral, temporary and ecologically insignificant Urlborg (talk) 16:53, 26 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Hi again Urlborg. I think you might be forgetting about the change in atmospheric pCO2 here. Prior to the industrial revolution, ocean waters (when averaged at the global scale) were largely in equilibrium with atmospheric pCO2, such that air-sea exchange balanced to near-zero net flux (i.e. out of the ocean in some places; into the ocean elsewhere; summed to approximately zero). However, the industrial revolution started changing the atmospheric composition such that the ocean was (on the average) undersaturated relative to atmospheric pCO2. As a result, CO2 has gradually invaded the ocean (in fact, the ocean is partially responsible for atmospheric CO2 levels not rising as much as they should have given the quantity of fossil fuels burnt). And once in the water, this CO2 (well, CO2 ↔ carbonic acid ↔ bicarbonate ↔ carbonate) has shifted the balance of the carbonate chemistry system to lower pH by way of compensation. This is the ocean acidification referred to, and it has been observed at ocean stations where carbonate chemistry has been quantified (e.g. see here for a story about the Hawaii Ocean Time-series). But please point me in the direction of contrary sources if you can find some. Cheers, --PLUMBAGO17:02, 28 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
