Uptake of Anthropogenic CO2 and its Effect on Recent Changes of Calcite and Aragonite Saturation in the Northern Pacific from 2006-2015

Abstract

As one of the largest carbon sinks in the world, the ocean takes up a large portion of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. As described through seawater-atmospheric equations, the pH of the ocean has significantly decreased as a result of this interaction. This decrease in pH has negatively affected the availability materials like aragonite and calcite, which are vital for organisms that utilize them. The northern Pacific has been shown to have extra susceptibility to this change in pH due to the increased uptake of carbon dioxide. Data sets from 2006 and 2015 were compared in this location in order to determine the change in aragonite and calcite in a context of increasing carbon dioxide levels. The ‘omega’ value was used as a unit to determine the saturation value of both aragonite and calcite. This study ultimately shows that not only has the difference between omega values from 2006 to 2015 remained the same, but has in fact increased in deviation in recent years when compared to data from the 1990’s. This shows that the shoaling of these saturations is larger than previously anticipated, and may be a significant issue in the future if organisms in this region start to die off and affect the food web.