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Estuarine acidification

December 15, 2023

Estuarine acidification happens when the pH balance of water in coastal marine ecosystems, specifically those of estuaries, decreases. Water, generally considered neutral on the pH scale, normally perfectly balanced between alkalinity and acidity. While ocean acidification occurs due to the ongoing decrease in the pH of the Earth's oceans, caused by the absorption of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere,[1] pH change in estuaries is more complicated than in the open ocean due to direct impacts from land run-off, human impact, and coastal current dynamics. In the ocean, wave and wind movement allows carbon dioxide (CO2) to mixes with water (H2O) forming carbonic acid (H2CO3). Through wave motion this chemical bond is mixed up, allowing for the further break of the bond, eventually becoming carbonate (CO3) which is basic and helps form shells for ocean creatures, and two hydron molecules. This creates the potential for acidic threat since hydron ions readily bond with any Lewis Structure to form an acidic bond. [2] This is referred to as an oxidation-reduction reaction.

The basic chemical equation is as follows:

CO2 + H2O ⇌ H2CO3 ⇌ HCO3 + H+ ⇌ CO3 + 2 H+

When this pattern of absorption is transferred into an estuary, however, acidity increases simply due to relative volume. Ocean water counts for the absorption of 30-40 percent of all CO2 emitted into the atmosphere and yet, due to its immense volume, it remains relatively resilient. [3] Estuaries - being smaller by volume, sheltered from wave motion, and victim to human impact when in an urban setting - do not readily support the mixing of water, and thereby prevents basic breakdown. [4] When this is combined with CO2 from human impact such as car emissions or fertilizers, oxidation more readily occurs due to the overabundance of hydron ions and additional cation, increasing the rate of occurrence and duration of acidification taking place. [5] As the acidity of estuarine water levels continues to fluctuate, several species who use estuaries as spawning nurseries have seen decreases in reproduction levels. [6]

Causes of variable pH edit

Freshwater flow edit

An estuary is defined as "a water passage where the tide meets a river current". The pH of estuaries is highly variable because of freshwater flow from rivers and groundwater, as well as primary productivity (exacerbated by nutrient loading) and coastal upwelling. Fresh water from rivers typically has a lower pH than ocean water (~7 compared to ~8). Seasonal and annual changes in river flow entering an estuary can change the pH by whole units.[7]

Photosynthesis and respiration edit

Primary production (plant growth) changes pH on a daily, seasonal, and annual basis. During photosynthesis, carbon dioxide is removed from the water, increasing pH. Organisms release carbon dioxide during respiration.[8] This leads to a daily cycle of increased pH during daylight hours and a decrease in pH during the night, when respiration is dominant. Similarly, pH is higher during the winter when grazing is low compared to productivity.[9]

Effluent edit

Many estuaries experience nutrient loading from runoff containing wastewater effluent or fertilizers, natural or artificial. Increased nutrients can stimulate primary productivity and alter the balance between primary productivity and respiration. This process can change pH by whole units within the estuary. Both these processes make it difficult to measure the overall change in pH associated with increased atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. This causes a change in pH by whole units in the estuary. This makes it hard to measure the overall change in pH, as well as the increased atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.[10]

Currents edit

Areas with coastal upwelling such as the west coast of North America have experienced increases in acidification due to more acidic deep water upwelling into the estuary.[11] This may have a detrimental effect on the survival of calcifying organisms[12] because the organisms have a much more difficult time forming and maintaining their calcium carbonate shells.[3]

Impact on marine life edit

 
A coccolithophore with many coccoliths (plates) formed from calcium carbonate

As the pH of marine systems decreases, it causes calcium carbonate (CaCO3) to dissociate[3] to keep in chemical equilibrium. Calcium carbonate is vital to calcifying organisms such as shellfish, corals, and coccolithophores (a type of phytoplankton). Acidification also harms micro-organisms in the environment. These organisms either directly provide humans with a food source or supports an ecosystem important to humans.[13]

Research edit

Estuarine acidification is being studied to understand the biological, chemical, and physical factors that affect pH in estuaries.[14]

References edit

  1. ^ Caldeira, Ken; Wickett, Michael E. (2003). "Oceanography: Anthropogenic carbon and ocean pH". Nature. 425 (6956): 365. Bibcode:2003Natur.425..365C. doi:10.1038/425365a. PMID 14508477. S2CID 4417880.
  2. ^ Weinhold, Frank; Carpenter, John E. (1988). The Structure of Small Molecules and Ions. Springer, Boston, MA. pp. 227–236. doi:10.1007/978-1-4684-7424-4_24. ISBN 9781468474268.
  3. ^ a b c Feely, R. A.; Sabine, C. L.; Lee, K; Berelson, W; Kleypas, J; Fabry, V. J.; Millero, F. J. (2004). "Impact of Anthropogenic CO2 on the CaCO3 System in the Oceans". Science. 305 (5682): 362–6. Bibcode:2004Sci...305..362F. doi:10.1126/science.1097329. PMID 15256664. S2CID 31054160.
  4. ^ Feely, Richard A.; Alin, Simone R.; Newton, Jan; Sabine, Christopher L.; Warner, Mark; Devol, Allan; Krembs, Christopher; Maloy, Carol (2010-08-10). "The combined effects of ocean acidification, mixing, and respiration on pH and carbonate saturation in an urbanized estuary". Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science. 88 (4): 442–449. Bibcode:2010ECSS...88..442F. doi:10.1016/j.ecss.2010.05.004.
  5. ^ Sammut, J.; Melville, M. D.; Callinan, R. B.; Fraser, G. C. (1995-04-01). "Estuarine Acidification: Impacts on Aquatic Biota of Draining Acid Sulphate Soils". Australian Geographical Studies. 33 (1): 89–100. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8470.1995.tb00687.x. ISSN 1467-8470.
  6. ^ Urho, Lauri; Hildén, Mikael; Hudd, Richard (1990-04-01). "Fish reproduction and the impact of acidification in the Kyrönjoki River estuary in the Baltic Sea". Environmental Biology of Fishes. 27 (4): 273–283. doi:10.1007/BF00002746. ISSN 0378-1909. S2CID 22245513.
  7. ^ "PH of coastal waterways".
  8. ^ NOAA "Estuary Education" 2013-10-29 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ Feely, Richard A.; Alin, Simone R.; Newton, Jan; Sabine, Christopher L.; Warner, Mark; Devol, Allan; Krembs, Christopher; Maloy, Carol (2010). "The combined effects of ocean acidification, mixing, and respiration on pH and carbonate saturation in an urbanized estuary". Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science. 88 (4): 442–9. Bibcode:2010ECSS...88..442F. doi:10.1016/j.ecss.2010.05.004.
  10. ^ Council, National Research; Studies, Division on Earth Life; Commission On Geosciences, Environment Resources; Areas, Committee on Wastewater Management for Coastal Urban (1993). A THE ROLE OF NUTRIENTS IN COASTAL WATERS | Managing Wastewater in Coastal Urban Areas | The National Academies Press. doi:10.17226/2049. ISBN 978-0-309-04826-2.
  11. ^ Feely, R. A.; Sabine, C. L.; Hernandez-Ayon, J. M.; Ianson, D.; Hales, B. (2008). "Evidence for Upwelling of Corrosive "Acidified" Water onto the Continental Shelf". Science. 320 (5882): 1490–2. Bibcode:2008Sci...320.1490F. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.328.3181. doi:10.1126/science.1155676. PMID 18497259. S2CID 35487689.
  12. ^ Orr, James C.; Fabry, Victoria J.; Aumont, Olivier; Bopp, Laurent; Doney, Scott C.; Feely, Richard A.; Gnanadesikan, Anand; Gruber, Nicolas; Ishida, Akio; Joos, Fortunat; Key, Robert M.; Lindsay, Keith; Maier-Reimer, Ernst; Matear, Richard; Monfray, Patrick; Mouchet, Anne; Najjar, Raymond G.; Plattner, Gian-Kasper; Rodgers, Keith B.; Sabine, Christopher L.; Sarmiento, Jorge L.; Schlitzer, Reiner; Slater, Richard D.; Totterdell, Ian J.; Weirig, Marie-France; Yamanaka, Yasuhiro; Yool, Andrew (2005). "Anthropogenic ocean acidification over the twenty-first century and its impact on calcifying organisms" (PDF). Nature. 437 (7059): 681–6. Bibcode:2005Natur.437..681O. doi:10.1038/nature04095. PMID 16193043. S2CID 4306199.
  13. ^ Witt, Verena; Wild, Christian; Anthony, Kenneth R. N.; Diaz-Pulido, Guillermo; Uthicke, Sven (2011). "Effects of ocean acidification on microbial community composition of, and oxygen fluxes through, biofilms from the Great Barrier Reef". Environmental Microbiology. 13 (11): 2976–89. doi:10.1111/j.1462-2920.2011.02571.x. PMID 21906222.
  14. ^ Feely, Richard A.; Alin, Simone R.; Newton, Jan; Sabine, Christopher L.; Warner, Mark; Devol, Allan; Krembs, Christopher; Maloy, Carol (2010-08-10). "The combined effects of ocean acidification, mixing, and respiration on pH and carbonate saturation in an urbanized estuary". Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science. 88 (4): 442–449. Bibcode:2010ECSS...88..442F. doi:10.1016/j.ecss.2010.05.004.

December 15, 2023
estuarine, acidification, this, article, multiple, issues, please, help, improve, discuss, these, issues, talk, page, learn, when, remove, these, template, messages, this, article, technical, most, readers, understand, please, help, improve, make, understandab. This article has multiple issues Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page Learn how and when to remove these template messages This article may be too technical for most readers to understand Please help improve it to make it understandable to non experts without removing the technical details October 2013 Learn how and when to remove this template message This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Estuarine acidification news newspapers books scholar JSTOR September 2014 Learn how and when to remove this template message Learn how and when to remove this template message Estuarine acidification happens when the pH balance of water in coastal marine ecosystems specifically those of estuaries decreases Water generally considered neutral on the pH scale normally perfectly balanced between alkalinity and acidity While ocean acidification occurs due to the ongoing decrease in the pH of the Earth s oceans caused by the absorption of carbon dioxide CO2 from the atmosphere 1 pH change in estuaries is more complicated than in the open ocean due to direct impacts from land run off human impact and coastal current dynamics In the ocean wave and wind movement allows carbon dioxide CO2 to mixes with water H2O forming carbonic acid H2CO3 Through wave motion this chemical bond is mixed up allowing for the further break of the bond eventually becoming carbonate CO3 which is basic and helps form shells for ocean creatures and two hydron molecules This creates the potential for acidic threat since hydron ions readily bond with any Lewis Structure to form an acidic bond 2 This is referred to as an oxidation reduction reaction The basic chemical equation is as follows CO2 H2O H2CO3 HCO3 H CO3 2 H When this pattern of absorption is transferred into an estuary however acidity increases simply due to relative volume Ocean water counts for the absorption of 30 40 percent of all CO2 emitted into the atmosphere and yet due to its immense volume it remains relatively resilient 3 Estuaries being smaller by volume sheltered from wave motion and victim to human impact when in an urban setting do not readily support the mixing of water and thereby prevents basic breakdown 4 When this is combined with CO2 from human impact such as car emissions or fertilizers oxidation more readily occurs due to the overabundance of hydron ions and additional cation increasing the rate of occurrence and duration of acidification taking place 5 As the acidity of estuarine water levels continues to fluctuate several species who use estuaries as spawning nurseries have seen decreases in reproduction levels 6 Contents 1 Causes of variable pH 1 1 Freshwater flow 1 2 Photosynthesis and respiration 1 3 Effluent 1 4 Currents 2 Impact on marine life 3 Research 4 ReferencesCauses of variable pH editFreshwater flow edit An estuary is defined as a water passage where the tide meets a river current The pH of estuaries is highly variable because of freshwater flow from rivers and groundwater as well as primary productivity exacerbated by nutrient loading and coastal upwelling Fresh water from rivers typically has a lower pH than ocean water 7 compared to 8 Seasonal and annual changes in river flow entering an estuary can change the pH by whole units 7 Photosynthesis and respiration edit Primary production plant growth changes pH on a daily seasonal and annual basis During photosynthesis carbon dioxide is removed from the water increasing pH Organisms release carbon dioxide during respiration 8 This leads to a daily cycle of increased pH during daylight hours and a decrease in pH during the night when respiration is dominant Similarly pH is higher during the winter when grazing is low compared to productivity 9 Effluent edit Many estuaries experience nutrient loading from runoff containing wastewater effluent or fertilizers natural or artificial Increased nutrients can stimulate primary productivity and alter the balance between primary productivity and respiration This process can change pH by whole units within the estuary Both these processes make it difficult to measure the overall change in pH associated with increased atmospheric carbon dioxide levels This causes a change in pH by whole units in the estuary This makes it hard to measure the overall change in pH as well as the increased atmospheric carbon dioxide levels 10 Currents edit Areas with coastal upwelling such as the west coast of North America have experienced increases in acidification due to more acidic deep water upwelling into the estuary 11 This may have a detrimental effect on the survival of calcifying organisms 12 because the organisms have a much more difficult time forming and maintaining their calcium carbonate shells 3 Impact on marine life edit nbsp A coccolithophore with many coccoliths plates formed from calcium carbonateAs the pH of marine systems decreases it causes calcium carbonate CaCO3 to dissociate 3 to keep in chemical equilibrium Calcium carbonate is vital to calcifying organisms such as shellfish corals and coccolithophores a type of phytoplankton Acidification also harms micro organisms in the environment These organisms either directly provide humans with a food source or supports an ecosystem important to humans 13 Research editEstuarine acidification is being studied to understand the biological chemical and physical factors that affect pH in estuaries 14 References edit Caldeira Ken Wickett Michael E 2003 Oceanography Anthropogenic carbon and ocean pH Nature 425 6956 365 Bibcode 2003Natur 425 365C doi 10 1038 425365a PMID 14508477 S2CID 4417880 Weinhold Frank Carpenter John E 1988 The Structure of Small Molecules and Ions Springer Boston MA pp 227 236 doi 10 1007 978 1 4684 7424 4 24 ISBN 9781468474268 a b c Feely R A Sabine C L Lee K Berelson W Kleypas J Fabry V J Millero F J 2004 Impact of Anthropogenic CO2 on the CaCO3 System in the Oceans Science 305 5682 362 6 Bibcode 2004Sci 305 362F doi 10 1126 science 1097329 PMID 15256664 S2CID 31054160 Feely Richard A Alin Simone R Newton Jan Sabine Christopher L Warner Mark Devol Allan Krembs Christopher Maloy Carol 2010 08 10 The combined effects of ocean acidification mixing and respiration on pH and carbonate saturation in an urbanized estuary Estuarine Coastal and Shelf Science 88 4 442 449 Bibcode 2010ECSS 88 442F doi 10 1016 j ecss 2010 05 004 Sammut J Melville M D Callinan R B Fraser G C 1995 04 01 Estuarine Acidification Impacts on Aquatic Biota of Draining Acid Sulphate Soils Australian Geographical Studies 33 1 89 100 doi 10 1111 j 1467 8470 1995 tb00687 x ISSN 1467 8470 Urho Lauri Hilden Mikael Hudd Richard 1990 04 01 Fish reproduction and the impact of acidification in the Kyronjoki River estuary in the Baltic Sea Environmental Biology of Fishes 27 4 273 283 doi 10 1007 BF00002746 ISSN 0378 1909 S2CID 22245513 PH of coastal waterways NOAA Estuary Education Archived 2013 10 29 at the Wayback Machine Feely Richard A Alin Simone R Newton Jan Sabine Christopher L Warner Mark Devol Allan Krembs Christopher Maloy Carol 2010 The combined effects of ocean acidification mixing and respiration on pH and carbonate saturation in an urbanized estuary Estuarine Coastal and Shelf Science 88 4 442 9 Bibcode 2010ECSS 88 442F doi 10 1016 j ecss 2010 05 004 Council National Research Studies Division on Earth Life Commission On Geosciences Environment Resources Areas Committee on Wastewater Management for Coastal Urban 1993 A THE ROLE OF NUTRIENTS IN COASTAL WATERS Managing Wastewater in Coastal Urban Areas The National Academies Press doi 10 17226 2049 ISBN 978 0 309 04826 2 Feely R A Sabine C L Hernandez Ayon J M Ianson D Hales B 2008 Evidence for Upwelling of Corrosive Acidified Water onto the Continental Shelf Science 320 5882 1490 2 Bibcode 2008Sci 320 1490F CiteSeerX 10 1 1 328 3181 doi 10 1126 science 1155676 PMID 18497259 S2CID 35487689 Orr James C Fabry Victoria J Aumont Olivier Bopp Laurent Doney Scott C Feely Richard A Gnanadesikan Anand Gruber Nicolas Ishida Akio Joos Fortunat Key Robert M Lindsay Keith Maier Reimer Ernst Matear Richard Monfray Patrick Mouchet Anne Najjar Raymond G Plattner Gian Kasper Rodgers Keith B Sabine Christopher L Sarmiento Jorge L Schlitzer Reiner Slater Richard D Totterdell Ian J Weirig Marie France Yamanaka Yasuhiro Yool Andrew 2005 Anthropogenic ocean acidification over the twenty first century and its impact on calcifying organisms PDF Nature 437 7059 681 6 Bibcode 2005Natur 437 681O doi 10 1038 nature04095 PMID 16193043 S2CID 4306199 Witt Verena Wild Christian Anthony Kenneth R N Diaz Pulido Guillermo Uthicke Sven 2011 Effects of ocean acidification on microbial community composition of and oxygen fluxes through biofilms from the Great Barrier Reef Environmental Microbiology 13 11 2976 89 doi 10 1111 j 1462 2920 2011 02571 x PMID 21906222 Feely Richard A Alin Simone R Newton Jan Sabine Christopher L Warner Mark Devol Allan Krembs Christopher Maloy Carol 2010 08 10 The combined effects of ocean acidification mixing and respiration on pH and carbonate saturation in an urbanized estuary Estuarine Coastal and Shelf Science 88 4 442 449 Bibcode 2010ECSS 88 442F doi 10 1016 j ecss 2010 05 004 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Estuarine acidification amp oldid 1136252453, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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