EARTHSS 60B Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Ocean Acidification, June Gloom, Sea Spray
27 Apr 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
LECTURE week 4
Carbon Biology
● Marine photosynthesis and production
○ Light + co2 + nutrients + water
○ Food web and complex ecology
■ Supporting fisheries and large marine mammals
● Global productivity
○ Trees are 98% photosynthesis biomass
■ 2% phytoplankton
● Respiration (sink for biomass)
○ Consuming oxygen out of the water
○ Major contributors
■ Animals and micros mostly
● Biological drivers of pH variability
○ Carbon dioxide is acidic, lowers pH
○ If CO2 is decreasing (more O2) pH rises
● Ocean acidification
○ Adding CO2 highers the concentration of H+ which makes it more acidic, lowers
pH
● Biological Effects
○ Calcification- harder to get material for shells, easier to dissolve this calcium
carbonate
■ Two types of calcium carbonate
● Aragonite - more soluble
● Calcite- less soluble
○ Photosynthesis- shifts in speed of process
● Ocean acidification along coastline
○ Upwelling brings acidified water
○ Deep water has less light so there is no photosynthesis but respiration which
adds CO2
Air Pollution in the LA Basin and beyond
● Aerosols (particulate material)
○ Crustal material (ash)
○ Fire and biomass burning
○ Emissions
○ Biological particles (pollen)
○ Sea spray (salt particles)
■ Have chemicals in them (nutrients)
● Nitrogen and iron on the coastal oceans
● Air pollution comes from many sources
Document Summary
Light + co2 + nutrients + water. If co2 is decreasing (more o2) ph rises. Adding co2 highers the concentration of h+ which makes it more acidic, lowers ph. Calcification- harder to get material for shells, easier to dissolve this calcium carbonate. Deep water has less light so there is no photosynthesis but respiration which adds co2. Air pollution in the la basin and beyond. Nitrogen and iron on the coastal oceans. Primary pollutant- something directly from a source. Secondary pollutant- forms when primary pollutants react in the atmosphere and create secondary compounds. Summer inversions in socal are affectionately referred to as. Inversions occur when lower air is cooler than the air above it. Warm air in cali and cold waters mean more evaporation and more fog. In ca this comes from cool marine layers. The warm layer acts as a cap that prevents pollutants from escaping out of basin.
