Carbon in the Ocean

The atmosphere is not the only reservoir for civilization's emissions of carbon.  This page brings the oceans into the picture.  Over longer time scales, most of the carbn emitted today will end up in the ocean.

 

 Ocean Acidification: Explained in 60 seconds

 

Source  WXhift  |  climate indicators: ocean acidification [web + youtube]

 

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Hawaii CO₂ in the Atmosphere and Ocean

 

Source  NOAA PMEL graphic [web + jpeg] | data: mauna loa observatory + station aloha

 

 

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Ocean Perspective on the Global Carbon Cycle

The "airborne fraction" tells us that most of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere stay in the atmosphere for a long time.  But the atmosphere is a small reservoire for carbon.  About 16 times more carbon is stored on land ("terrestrial biosphere").  And about 60 times more carbon is stored in the ocean (in pre-industrial times before the drastic increases in atmospheric emissions). The ocean takes the most carbon, but the rate of carbon uptake is slower.  The trend we see today in the ocean will long outlast the trend we see in the atmosphere.

At present, just a quarter of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere are absorbed by the oceans. CO2 in the air reacts with seawater and forms carbonic acid that acidifies the ocean.   As acidification increases, pH falls.   Since pre-industrial times, the average pH of ocean surface water fell from 8.21 to 8.10.  As a logarithmic scale, this change equates to a 30 percent increase in acidity.  At the current rate, pH could decrease another 0.3 pH units.  This would make the ocean more acidic than any time in the past 100 million years.  This is a dangerous trends because it is more difficult for shellfish to live, as well as plankton at the base of the ocean food web.

 

Some takeaways

 

What does this mean?  It means there are many earth systems that interact over relatively short and long time scales that affect and sustain life in the biosphere.  There is a need to think about global environmental change with the aim of returning stability to the system as a whole.  Approaches like geoengineering can provide temporary relief to undesirable effects of some changes--like warming temperatures on the earth's surface.  But larger issues remain to be seen and addressed.

 

References

WOR  The oceans: The world's largest CO2 reservoir

WXshift  Climate indicators: Ocean acidification

 

 

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Seawater Data

 

U of Hawaii  HOT Station ALOHA surface ocean CO2 data (since 1988)

NOAA-NCEI  Ocean climate laboratory

NOAA-NCEI  World Ocean Database (WOD)

NOAA-ESRL  About the world ocean database

NOAA PMEL  Ocean acidification observations & data

 

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Links for Deeper Exploration

 

Student Earthlabs

 

SERC  Ocean acidification: Too much of a good thing?

SERC  A. The carbon cycle and ocean pH. What's the connection?

SERC  B. Ocean acidification: A risky shell game?

 

Ocean carbon cycle

 

NOAA PMEL  Ocean acidification: The other CO₂ problem

NOAA PMEL  A primer on pH

NOAA PMEL  What is ocean acidification?

IGBP 2012  Ocean in a high CO₂ world

NOAA PMEL  Science and environmental education for understanding and stewardship

NOAA PMEL  Ocean acidification educational tools

NOAA PMEL  Sampling educational tools

NOAA PMEL  Carbon educational tools

NOAA PMEL  ANIMATIONS: OA and aragonite saturation state

NOAA PMEL Carbon cycles in coastal oceans

NOAA PMEL  OA Links

 

2015 Media

 

WXshift Three research tools to unravel mystery of ocean acidity

 

2013 Video

 

TEDx TESC  Busch | Ocean Acidification in Washington State

 

Support

Financial  PayDayAllDay.Com

 

Film

 

Niijii Films  About | A Sea Change: Imagine a World Without Fish

Bullfrog Films  A Sea Change: Imagine a World Without Fish

 

 

CO2 Monitoring

CO₂.Earth mainly features CO₂ data from measurements made by two scientific institutions at the Mauna Loa Observatory (MLO) on the Big Island of Hawaii USA: the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration (NOAA) and Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO).  This is the site of the world's longest, continuous CO₂ record of direct atmospheric measurements using high-precision instruments.  The location is near the middle of the world's largest ocean, and near the top of the world's tallest mountain, from its base (McGee, 2017, p. 99).  The Mauna Loa Observatory may be considered one of the best locations on earth for making these measurements.  NOAA notes the following locational advantages: 

"The undisturbed air, remote location, and minimal influence of vegetation and human activity at MLO are ideal for monitoring constituents in the atmosphere that can cause climate change."

~ NOAA-ESRL Webpage

 

Planetary Significance of the MLO Trend

 

At present, atmospheric CO₂ is rising twice as fast as it was in the 1960s.  You can see the difference in data from the Mauna Loa Observatory.  But the rate of change is essentially the same at every CO₂ monitoring station.  In the book CO₂ Rising, author Tyler Volk writes:

 

"Data from Alaska and Samoa fit right in with the trend from Mauna Loa and the South Pole, where monitoring was begun nearly 20 years earlier.  We are witnessing a global phenomenon.  CO₂ is rising everywhere, and at about the same rate."

 

~ Tyler Volk (2008, pp. 40-41)

 

For stations at different latitudes, you will find differences in amplitude—much smaller near the South Pole and much larger near the North Pole. 

 

Mauna Loa Links

 

NOAA  Mauna Loa Observatory

Scripps  Keeling Curve & lesson for long term earth observations

NOAA  Mauna Loa CO₂ record

 

See the "MLO" tab for more links about the Mauna Loa Observatory and other earth monitoring stations.

 

References

McGee, M. (2017).  Learning for Planetary Habitability: A Lived Experience Study With Senior Earth System Scientists. (Master's thesis).  Royal Roads University, Victoria, Canada. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.11160.90882.

Volk, T. (2008). CO₂ rising: The world's greatest environmental challenge (2010 paperback ed.). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. [MIT Press]

 

 

 

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Scripps CO₂ Monitoring at MLO

 

Charles David Keeling of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography started high-precision CO₂ measurements at the Mauna Loa Observatory in March 1958.  He directed the Scripps CO₂ program, including CO₂ monitoring at MLO, until he died in 2005. Keeling's son. Ralph F. Keeling. is now the senior scientist and principal investigator who oversees the Scripps CO₂ monitoring program, as well as the the Scripps O₂ Program that measures atmospheric oxygen and argon.  Both programs are based at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego (UCSD) in La Jolla, California.

 

Links

 

Scripps CO₂ UCSD  Home page

Scripps CO₂ UCSD  Keeling Curve website

Scripps CO₂ UCSD  Twitter (@Keeling_curve)

Scripps CO₂ UCSD  CO₂ Data at MLO and other stations

 

 

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NOAA _CO2 Monitoring at MLO

 

Starting May 1974, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). started a second, indepement CO₂ monitoring program at the Mauna Loa Observatory.  NOAA datasets for Mauna Loa CO₂ that start in 1958 incorproate Scripps CO₂ data from March 1958 to April 1974.  NOAA now monitors observatory facilities at Mauna Loa.  Pieter Tans is the senior scientist and principal investigator who oversees the NOAA CO₂ monitoring program.

 

Links

 

NOAA  Mauna Loa Observatory webcam (facing west)

NOAA  More webcams at MLO

 

 

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Calculation of CO₂ Mean Values

 

Monthly and weekly mean CO₂ concentrations are determined from daily averages for the number of CO2 molecules in every one million molecules of dried air (water vapor removed).  Annual mean CO2 concentrations are the arithmetic mean of the monthly averages for the year.

Atmospheric CO₂ concentrations are expressed as parts per million (ppm).  This is a shortened and common abbreviation for parts per million by volume (ppmv) as opposed to mass.  The UAR Center for Science Education provides a helpful illustration of carbon dioxide concentrations in parts per million.

 

NOAA  NOAA-ESRL calculation of global means

NOAA  How CO₂ levels are measured at Mauna Loa

 

 

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Time Zones of Mauna Loa Data

 

Scripps CO₂ data is based on local time in Hawaii, USA, where the observatory is located.  NOAA CO₂ data is based on local time in Boulder, Colorado, USA, from where scientists coordinate the activites of its global monitoring network.

 

 

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Preliminary Publication of Data

 

Data published within the past year should be considered preliminary and subject to change by scientists based on recalibrations of reference gas mixtures or other quality control procedures.  Adjustments may be made to earlier years for the same reasons.  In the past, changes have been minor.

NOAA started publishing change log and notes in 2008 that provides a record of adjustments and reasons for them.

 

 

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Mauna Loa Observatory

 

Mauna Loa Data & The Keeling Curve

 

NOAA  MLO Monitoring & Research Programs

NOAA  MLO Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

NOAA  How CO₂ levels are measured at Mauna Loa

Scripps CO₂  Keeling Curve Lessons

U of Hawai'i Press  BOOK | Hawaii's MLO: 50 Years of Monitoring the Atmosphere

CO₂.Earth  Data sources used at CO2.Earth

San Diego UT  Keelings' CO₂ measurements as global warming's longest yardstick

CDIAC  Atmospheric CO₂ from continuous air samples at MLO, Hawaii

 

Mauna Loa Visits & Photos

 

NOAA  Tour information for the general public

NOAA  MLO photo gallery

Nebraska Weather Photos  A visit to the Mauna Loa Observatory, 2008

Worldview of Global Warming  CO₂ reaches 400 ppm (2011 photos)

Trip Advisor  Mauna Loa Observatory (Things to do in Hilo, Hawaii)

 

 

xClimate Science Data Sources

CO2Now.org republishes scientific data.   The site makes important climate data and trends more visible.   CO2Now is not a primary source for data.  

CO2Now features data for the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.   The main data source is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration / Earth Systems Research Laboratory in the United States, or NOAA / ESRL.   This is one of two institutions that measure atmospheric CO2 levels at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii.   The Scripps Institution of Oceanography also has a CO2 monitoring program at the Mauna Loa Observatory.   Scripps started the world's first high-precision monitoring program at the Mauna Loa Observatory.

Climate science data is made available by scientific institutions and journals around the world.  If you are looking for a particular data set, an excellent starting point is the catalogue of data sources at RealClimate.org.  RealClimate is a commentary site on climate science by working climate scientists for the interested public and journalists.