Most of the visible damage to coral reefs so far, is
secondary to bleaching. There are extensive portions of
the Great Barrier Reef, and other parts of Carribbean
reefs that have suffered this. Bleaching however, is most
likely due to relatively high SST which leads to the
corals expelling the zooxanthalle, which pretty much
amounts to a death sentence. The reduced rate of growth
from low sea pH is a more subtle problem, but one that
should be easy to quantify and to compare current coral
growth rates to rates from thousands of years ago.
On Thu, 27 Apr 2006 08:54:47 -0600
"Rich Blinne" <rich.blinne@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 4/27/06, drsyme@cablespeed.com
><drsyme@cablespeed.com> wrote:
>>
>> I want to point out that atmospheric CO2 and its effect
>>on
>> temperature is only half the story. High atmsopheric
>>CO2
>> also reduces ocean pH, and this has become a real and
>> measureable effect. It is this data that convinces me,
>> that we have a real problem with artificial CO2
>> production:
>>
>> http://www.research.noaa.gov/spotlite/archive/spot_gcc.html
>
>
> Thanks for that. Anybody who has seen the deterioration
>of the coral reefs
> can see that this effect is real. This is a good
>counterpoint to those who
> might use the information I presented as an argument to
>do nothing. One
> reason why we don't have as much climate sensitivity is
>sequestration in the
> oceans which in turn damages them. Regardless of where
>we stand on how much
> damage is being done we all agree there is damage being
>done. Thus, we must
> find ways to decrease anthropogenic CO2 (and other
>greenhouse gases).
Received on Thu Apr 27 11:26:00 2006
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