Potential Interactions Among Ocean Acidification, Coccolithophores, and the Optical Properties of Seawater
The effects of ocean acidification (OA) are expected to be manifest over a broad range of spatial and temporal scales throughout the world ocean as its pH drops from the pre-industrial value of 8.2 to 7.8 by the year 2100. Calcifying plankton (like other biocalcifiers such as corals and shellfish) a...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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The Oceanography Society
2009-12-01
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| Series: | Oceanography |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://tos.org/oceanography/issues/issue_archive/issue_pdfs/22_4/22-4_balch.pdf |
| _version_ | 1811245091668361216 |
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| author | William M. Balch Paul E. Utgoff |
| author_facet | William M. Balch Paul E. Utgoff |
| author_sort | William M. Balch |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The effects of ocean acidification (OA) are expected to be manifest over a broad range of spatial and temporal scales throughout the world ocean as its pH drops from the pre-industrial value of 8.2 to 7.8 by the year 2100. Calcifying plankton (like other biocalcifiers such as corals and shellfish) are expected to be strongly affected by OA because of their need for saturating carbonate conditions, which enables precipitation of calcium carbonate. Within the calcifying plankton, coccolithophores precipitate the smallest calcium carbonate particles (coccoliths), which are some of the strongest light-scattering particles in the sea. Thus, anything that will affect coccolithophore calcification (including OA) will likely affect the optical properties of the sea. Here, we describe the optical properties of coccolithophores and interpret some historical observations within the context of OA. Then, we discuss technologies that are available to measure optical properties of coccolithophores, and also how we could exploit coccolithophore optical properties to measure impacts of OA at different scales. We end with a discussion of the consequences (both optical and biogeochemical) of a “de-calcified” surface ocean. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T14:35:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2f11e73dbb024784b78f7e91104583bb |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1042-8275 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T14:35:05Z |
| publishDate | 2009-12-01 |
| publisher | The Oceanography Society |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Oceanography |
| spelling | doaj.art-2f11e73dbb024784b78f7e91104583bb2022-12-22T03:29:07ZengThe Oceanography SocietyOceanography1042-82752009-12-01224146159Potential Interactions Among Ocean Acidification, Coccolithophores, and the Optical Properties of SeawaterWilliam M. BalchPaul E. UtgoffThe effects of ocean acidification (OA) are expected to be manifest over a broad range of spatial and temporal scales throughout the world ocean as its pH drops from the pre-industrial value of 8.2 to 7.8 by the year 2100. Calcifying plankton (like other biocalcifiers such as corals and shellfish) are expected to be strongly affected by OA because of their need for saturating carbonate conditions, which enables precipitation of calcium carbonate. Within the calcifying plankton, coccolithophores precipitate the smallest calcium carbonate particles (coccoliths), which are some of the strongest light-scattering particles in the sea. Thus, anything that will affect coccolithophore calcification (including OA) will likely affect the optical properties of the sea. Here, we describe the optical properties of coccolithophores and interpret some historical observations within the context of OA. Then, we discuss technologies that are available to measure optical properties of coccolithophores, and also how we could exploit coccolithophore optical properties to measure impacts of OA at different scales. We end with a discussion of the consequences (both optical and biogeochemical) of a “de-calcified” surface ocean.http://tos.org/oceanography/issues/issue_archive/issue_pdfs/22_4/22-4_balch.pdfocean acidificationcarbonate saturationcalcium carbonatecoccolithophores |
| spellingShingle | William M. Balch Paul E. Utgoff Potential Interactions Among Ocean Acidification, Coccolithophores, and the Optical Properties of Seawater Oceanography ocean acidification carbonate saturation calcium carbonate coccolithophores |
| title | Potential Interactions Among Ocean Acidification, Coccolithophores, and the Optical Properties of Seawater |
| title_full | Potential Interactions Among Ocean Acidification, Coccolithophores, and the Optical Properties of Seawater |
| title_fullStr | Potential Interactions Among Ocean Acidification, Coccolithophores, and the Optical Properties of Seawater |
| title_full_unstemmed | Potential Interactions Among Ocean Acidification, Coccolithophores, and the Optical Properties of Seawater |
| title_short | Potential Interactions Among Ocean Acidification, Coccolithophores, and the Optical Properties of Seawater |
| title_sort | potential interactions among ocean acidification coccolithophores and the optical properties of seawater |
| topic | ocean acidification carbonate saturation calcium carbonate coccolithophores |
| url | http://tos.org/oceanography/issues/issue_archive/issue_pdfs/22_4/22-4_balch.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT williammbalch potentialinteractionsamongoceanacidificationcoccolithophoresandtheopticalpropertiesofseawater AT pauleutgoff potentialinteractionsamongoceanacidificationcoccolithophoresandtheopticalpropertiesofseawater |