The Seafloor Is Dissolving Away. And Humans Are to Blame.

[Judi Lynn]

By Stephanie Pappas, Live Science Contributor | November 5, 2018 07:05am ET

Climate change reaches all the way to the bottom of the sea.

The same greenhouse gas emissions that are causing the planet's climate to change are also causing the seafloor to dissolve. And new research has found the ocean bottom is melting away faster in some places than others.

The ocean is what's known as a carbon sink: It absorbs carbon from the atmosphere. And that carbon acidifies the water. In the deep ocean, where the pressure is high, this acidified seawater reacts with calcium carbonate that comes from dead shelled creatures. The reaction neutralizes the carbon, creating bicarbonate.

Over the millennia, this reaction has been a handy way to store carbon without throwing the ocean's chemistry wildly out of whack. But as humans have burned fossil fuels, more and more carbon has ended up in the ocean. In fact, according to NASA, about 48 percent of the excess carbon humans have pumped into the atmosphere has been locked away in the oceans. [7 Ways the Earth Changes in the Blink of an Eye]

More:
https://www.livescience.com/64010-seafloor-is-dissolving.html

[No Vested Interest]

1. Now I've got a new thing to worry about.

I'm glad I'm up in years and won't live to see all the damage, but I don't like it.

[defacto7]

2. In the blink of an eye...