A study by Australian geology researcher, Timothy Casey contests the recent claims by environmentalists that man-made emissions of carbon dioxide have been causing ocean acidification.
These disturbing claims have been perplexing geologists, among other researchers, who have failed to detect any increase in acidification in the word's rivers, lakes, reservoirs and aquariums. In well-documented doomsaying by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) ocean acidification has been a key concern. Environmentalists have long proposed that if ocean acidification continues it will stress marine fisheries and cause the destruction of coral reefs.
It was the distinct lack of acidification of all the planet’s other water sources that prompted researchers to investigate why oceans alone were showing signs of increasing acidification.
Is ‘Volcanogate’ About to Erupt in the Wake of Climategate?
Sceptics argue the IPCC has failed to apply joined up thinking to explain this anomaly. The latest reasoning of climate sceptic scientists seems faultless: if human atmospheric emissions of carbon dioxide were causing the oceans to acidify then why weren’t we seeing the same levels of rising acidity in rivers and reservoirs?
Now geologists have investigated this question further and come up with new answers. They argue, if there is such a difference between our oceans and our rivers and reservoirs then the source couldn’t be common to both. By finding no increases anywhere in inland water systems this study has inevitably concluded that any human emissions into the atmosphere of carbon dioxide must be excluded as a potential source of oceanic acidification. The greenhouse gas theory has been under a cloud since researchers admitted there had been no statistically significant global warming for 15 years.
Earlier Studies Support the Latest Findings
Oceanographers Hillier and Watts (2007) surveyed 201,055 submarine volcanoes. From this they concluded an astounding total of 3,477,403 submarine volcanoes must reasonably exist worldwide. They based this finding on the earlier and well-respected observations of Earth and Planetary Sciences specialist, Batiza (1982) who found that at least 4 per cent of seamounts are active volcanoes.
Facts About Volcano Numbers Suppressed by Global Warming Activists
Controversy has dogged the IPCC in the wake of the Climategate and Glaciergate revelations indicating climatologists deliberately hid or distorted climate data. Climate sceptics have questioned the attempts of some alarmist scientists to downplay the role of volcanoes in adding to the amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. According to the highly regarded earlier survey by Batiza (1982), Pacific mid-plate underwater volcanoes, a highly unstable region, alone accounts for an incredible 22,000 to 55,000 with at least 2,000 of them being active. However, it appears that the IPCC has downplayed these numbers.
None of the more than 2,000 active submarine volcanoes have even been discussed in Kerrick (2001), a paper referred to by the IPCC and used to eliminate volcanoes as an important factor in CO2 output into the atmosphere.
Furthermore, Kerrick (2001) justifies the omission of mid oceanic ridge emissions by claiming that mid oceanic ridges discharge less CO2 than is consumed by mid oceanic ridge hydrothermal carbonate systems. There is no evidence to support such a conclusion.
Some Volcanoes More Active Than Previously Thought
Casey's study looked at examples such as the Blue Lake in the crater of dormant volcano, Mount Gambier, now acidifying due to volcanogenic CO2 input. It lies in the regional centre of the Limestone Coast in the South East of South Australia. It has now been found Mount Gambier is not quite so dormant as some studies suggested. If this fact was repeated world-wide then it would dispel concerns that human emitted greenhouse gases were the cause of rising levels of sea acidity. The real culprit seems to have been Nature all along.
No Reports of Acidification of Rivers and Reservoirs
To further confirm the conclusions of this geological study, commercial suppliers of pumps that aerate inland water sources such as lakes and reservoirs, report no increase in business due to acidification. In fact, there is no demand for any filtering equipment to remove carbon dioxide from air pumped into inland water systems. If it were really true that the oceans are acidifying (this is hotly disputed, in itself) then given that isolated water reservoirs and aquariums are not acidifying as well, the source cannot be common to both.
The logical conclusion, therefore, is that atmospheric carbon dioxide can not be the cause of oceanic acidification as we once thought. Thus we may fairly infer it is a non-problem.
References:
Batiza, R., 1982, "Abundances, distribution and sizes of volcanoes in the Pacific Ocean and implications for the origin of non-hotspot volcanoes", Earh & Planetary Science Letters, Vol. 60, pp. 195-206
Casey, Timothy. "Volcanic Carbon Dioxide." Consulting Geologist Carbon-budget.geologist-1011.net Accessed March 2010.
Hillier, J. K., Watts, A. B., 2007, "Global distribution of seamounts from ship-track bathymetry data", Geophysical. Research. Letters, Vol. 34, L13304, doi:10.1029/2007GL029874
Kerrick, D. M., 2001, "Present and Past Nonanthropogenic CO2 Degassing From the Solid Earth", Reviews of Geophysics, Vol. 39, pp. 565-586
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