Siberian Permafrost Melt Acidifying Arctic Ocean Far Faster Than Scientists Anticipated

[hatrack]

EDIT

So says a newly published study by a team of scientists from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the Russian Academy of Sciences and other institutions in Russia and Sweden. The scientists have been working together for years to study the East Siberian Arctic Shelf, a marine area that accounts for about a quarter of the Arctic Ocean’s open waters.

Observations made since 1999 showed signs that in some locations, acidity has already surged past levels researchers didn't expect to emerge until the year 2100, due in part to "extreme aragonite undersaturation," the study says.

Ed - Emphasis added.

Aragonite is a form of calcium carbonate that is pervasive in the ocean and tilts the chemistry toward the base level of the pH scale. Carbon in the water tilts the pH scale toward the acid level. The degree to which the water is saturated with aragonite is a marker of overall calcium levels -- and a marker of acidification caused by increasing loads of carbon in the water, according to NOAA.

When there is more aragonite than can be absorbed by the water, it is considered to be supersaturated, leaving excess amounts to be used by shell-bearing marine organisms. But when there is less aragonite than the water could normally absorb, it is considered undersaturated. Since the East Siberian Arctic Shelf is so important to the Arctic Ocean’s open water, the chemistry changes could have wide-ranging effects, the study’s authors said.

EDIT

https://www.adn.com/article/20160424/siberian-erosion-river-runoff-speeds-arctic-ocean-acidification

[appal_jack]

1. This is a big deal.

"Faster than expected," remains a key phrase here in E&E. k&r,

-app