Could artificial ocean alkalinization protect tropical coral ecosystems from ocean acidification?.

Feng, Ellias Y., Keller, David P. , Koeve, Wolfgang and Oschlies, Andreas (2016) Could artificial ocean alkalinization protect tropical coral ecosystems from ocean acidification?. Open Access Environmental Research Letters, 11 (7). Art.Nr. 074008. DOI 10.1088/1748-9326/11/7/074008.

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Abstract

Artificial ocean alkalinization (AOA) is investigated as a method to mitigate local ocean acidification and protect tropical coral ecosystems during a 21st century high CO2 emission scenario. Employing an Earth system model of intermediate complexity, our implementation of AOA in the Great Barrier Reef, Caribbean Sea and South China Sea regions, shows that alkalinization has the potential to counteract expected 21st century local acidification in regard to both oceanic surface aragonite saturation Ω and surface pCO2. Beyond preventing local acidification, regional AOA, however, results in locally elevated aragonite oversaturation and pCO2 decline. A notable consequence of stopping regional AOA is a rapid shift back to the acidified conditions of the target regions. We conclude that AOA may be a method that could help to keep regional coral ecosystems within saturation states and pCO2 values close to present-day values even in a high-emission scenario and thereby might ‘buy some time’ against the ocean acidification threat, even though regional AOA does not significantly mitigate the warming threat.

Document Type: Article
Keywords: climate engineering, geoengineering, artificial ocean alkalinization, ocean acidification, coral reefs, climate change, modelling
Research affiliation: OceanRep > GEOMAR > FB2 Marine Biogeochemistry > FB2-BM Biogeochemical Modeling
OceanRep > The Future Ocean - Cluster of Excellence > FO-R05
OceanRep > The Future Ocean - Cluster of Excellence
Kiel University
Refereed: Yes
Open Access Journal?: Yes
Publisher: IOP Publishing
Related URLs:
Projects: BIOACID, SPP 1689, Future Ocean, Opendap
Date Deposited: 13 Jul 2016 08:26
Last Modified: 23 Nov 2020 12:07
URI: https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/33330

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