This article focuses on the implications of the process of calcification marine systems (Orr et al. 681). The authors assert that the calcium that is used in ocean calcification is obtained from living organisms that live in seawater.
This article correlates calcium with oceanography because the process of acidification, which causes the ocean’s pH to decrease because of excess carbon from the atmosphere, has impacts on calcifying organisms in the oceans. Furthermore, decreased pH in the oceans affects some ocean organisms detrimentally, which results in coral bleaching. Coral bleaching significantly reduces the number of living organisms in seawater (Orr et al. 682).
According to the authors’ estimations, ocean surfaces in the southern parts will have significant under-saturation of calcium-carbonate because of little aragonite, which is a major component of calcium carbonate (Orr et al. 685). Low concentration could be as soon as 2050 with the case extending to cover large parts of the oceans, including the Pacific Ocean by 2100.
In the experiment, the researchers noted significant levels of dissolution on the exposure of live organisms to the projected levels of under-saturation. From the study, the findings highlight the detrimental impact of under-saturation on the ocean ecosystem, especially in high-latitude places. The article has practical implications for oceanography, and the authors highlight the impact of acidification and calcification on the survival of marine organisms in now and in the future.
Works Cited
Orr, James, Victoria Fabry, Olivier Aumont, Laurent Bopp, Scott Doney, Richard Feely, Anand Gnanadesikan et al. “Anthropogenic ocean acidification over the twenty-first century and its impact on calcifying organisms.” Nature 437.7059 (2005): 681-686. Print.