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EAS 8001-KC:  Ocean Acidification
Past and Present


  Mondays 11-12pm, ES&T 1229

   




 

Kim Cobb                                                                    
kcobb@eas.gatech.edu
ES&T 3240, 404-894-3895                                                NEW:  Key #'s from seminar readings

Kate Wejnert
kate.wejnert@eas.gatech.edu
ES&T 1234, 404-894-3942
 
Course web-site:  http://cobblab.eas.gatech.edu/ocean_acid
 
Course Objectives:
Ocean acidification is a direct consequence of rising atmospheric CO2 levels, but its rates and consequences remain unclear. Avoiding negative impacts on marine calcifying organisms is widely touted as a key justification for slowing emissions of fossil fuel emissions, yet documenting the direct effects of ocean acidification can be difficult, especially when instrumental pH records only span the last decades, at best. In this seminar we will review the current techniques and findings concerning modern-day acidification, and place these changes in a longer context afforded by proxy measurements of past ocean pH changes.
 
Course requirements:
All students should read the papers carefully and come prepared with 2 comments and/or questions for group discussion.

Carbonate chemistry chapter: Emerson and Hedges Chapter 4 
 
Schedule of Papers:
 
Section I:  Anthropogenic ocean acidification:  Marine chemistry changes
 
August 20     Introduction and overview of seminar objectives; Kump, L. "The last great global warming", Scientific American, July 2011. 

August 27      Feely et al., "Impact of anthropogenic CO2 on the CaCO3 system in the oceans", Science 305: 362-366, 2004.

September 3    Byrne et al., "Direct observations of basin-wide acidification of the North Pacific Ocean", Geophysical Research Letters 37: L02601, doi:10.1029/2009GL040999, 2010.
 
September 10     Feely et al., "Decadal changes in the aragonite and calcite saturation state of the Pacific Ocean", Global Biogeochemical Cycles 26: GB3001, doi:10.1029/2011GB004157, 2012.

September 17      Friedrich et al., "Detecting regional anthropogenic trends in ocean acidification against natural variability", Nature Climate Change 2: 167-171, 2012.

For those that are interested here are the two Sabine papers:

Sabine et al., "The oceanic sink for antrhopogenic CO2", Science 305: 367-371, 2004. 

Sabine et al., "Decadal changes in Pacific carbon", Journal of Geophysical Research 113: C07021, doi:10.1029/2007JC004577, 2008. 

Section II:  Anthropogenic ocean acidification:  Modeling future changes

September 24      Caldeira and Wickett, "Ocean model predictions of chemistry changes from carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere and ocean", Journal of Geophysical Research 110, C09S04, doi:10.1029/2004JC002671, 2005.

October 1      Schmittner et al., "Future changes in climate, ocean circulation, ecosystems, and biogeochemical cycling simulated for a business-as-usual CO2 emission scenario until year 4000 AD", Global Biogeochemical Cycles 22, GB1013, doi:10.1029/2007GB002953, 2008.

Section III:  Anthropogenic ocean acidification:  Impacts on marine life

October 8      Orr et al., "Anthropogenic ocean acidification over the twenty-first century and its impact on calcifying organisms", Nature 437: 681-686, 2005.

October 15     Pandolfi et al., "Projecting Coral Reef Futures Under Global Warming and Ocean Acidification", Science 333(6041):  418-422, 2011.

October 22     McCulloch et al., "Coral resilience to ocean acidification and global warming through pH up-regulation", Nature Climate Change 2:623-627, 2012.

October 29      Ries et al., "Marine calcifiers exhibit mixed responses to CO2-induced ocean acidification" Geology 37(12): 1131-1134, 2009.

November 5      Kroeker et al., "Meta-analysis reveals negative yet variable effects of ocean acidification on marine organisms" Ecology Letters 13: 1419-1434, 2010.

Section IV:  Paleo-pH proxies and past ocean pH changes
 
November 12       Honisch et al., "The geologic record of ocean acidification", Science 335(6072):  1058-1063, 2012.
 
November 19      Foster, "Seawater pH, pCO2, and [CO32-] variations in the Caribbean Sea over the last 130 kyr: A boron isotope and B/Ca study of planktic foraminifera", Earth and Planetary Science Letters 271: 254-266, 2008.

November 26      Pelejero et al., "Preindustrial to modern interdecal variability in coral reef pH", Science 309: 2204-2207, 2005.

December 3      Tripati et al., "A 20 million year record of planktic foraminiferal B/Ca ratios: Systematics and uncertainties in 

pCO2 reconstructions", Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 75: 2582-2610, 2011.