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peterg7lyq
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Join Date: Jan 2010
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Does Absorbed Carbon Dioxide Cause Ocean Levels to Rise

04/30/2010 4:56 PM

corelite told me off for derailing a topic on here, well as a result of looking up items in the exchange the name carbonic acid came up so i looked it up to learn from my mistake.

Any way as aresult of somthing i read.

Role of carbonic acid in anthropogenic climate change

The oceans of the world have absorbed almost half of the CO2 emitted by humans from the burning of fossil fuels.[1] The extra dissolved carbon dioxide has caused the ocean's average surface pH to shift by about 0.1 unit from pre-industrial levels.[2] This process is known as ocean acidification.

if the above is true and the oceans have absorbed all this carbon dioxide, Could all this gas that the oceans have absorbed cause the voloume of water to expand ?

And could it be this expansion if it exists that has caused the ocens to rise and not the melting ice ??

PLEASE NO COMMENTS ON THE FIRST PART, IT WAS MY MISTAKEN BELEIF THAT I HAD FREE SPEECH THAT STARTED IT.
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lyn
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#1

Re: Is the oceans rising being caused by the carbon dioxide absorbed

04/30/2010 5:20 PM

I don't know about the first part, but I'd liken the absorption of gas in the ocean to dissolving salt or sugar in water. That doesn't seem to expand the water much.
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mjb1962853
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#2

Re: Is the oceans rising being caused by the carbon dioxide absorbed

04/30/2010 6:26 PM

Try an experiment on a smaller scale. If you observe a pint of ale, how much does the liquid level drop when the dissolved CO2 comes out of solution?

Chemical and biological affects aside, I think the additional dissolved CO2 has very little volume impact. Polar ice reduction appears to be the primary cause.
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Shawn
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Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Averill Park, NY
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#4
In reply to #2

Re: Is the oceans rising being caused by the carbon dioxide absorbed

04/30/2010 7:40 PM

First of all we arent taking CO2 out of the ocean's, rather we are increasing the partial pressure in the atmosphere hence pushing CO2 into our oceans. Carbonated beverages use pressure to dissolve the gas. In our observed case we are depleating our oceans in the carbonate ion and enriching our oceans with the bicarbonate ion and carbonic acid. Only so much of the carbonate ion can remain suspended while we observe and increased rate of calcium carbonate preciptate that gets deposited on the ocean floors. The process has negligible affects to sea level as the solid form is dense and takes up negligible volume that rapidly subsides and densifies under water pressure.

The only major threat to rise in ocean water is the melting of glaciers predominantly existing in Greenland and Antartica which togethr hold over 70% of present day ice volume. We are also at a very high sea level state and predicted models suggest we should be entering a cooling trend.

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Geo_Guy
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#5
In reply to #4

Re: Is the oceans rising being caused by the carbon dioxide absorbed

05/01/2010 1:24 PM

One factor that has been left out of the discussion of rising sea levels is the role isostatic recovery plays. It is estimated that places like the Baltic sea and Hudson Bay are rising at rates of about 1 cm per year. When this happens, water is displaced and flows east and west into the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, adding to their water and hence impacting on their levels.

Other estimates suggest that Hudson Bay needs to rise another 150 meters before equilibrium is achieved. While it is doing that, it will be displacing water.
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Codemaster
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#7
In reply to #4

Re: Is the oceans rising being caused by the carbon dioxide absorbed

05/02/2010 8:55 AM

No Shawn, that's the wrong way round. Increasing free CO2 lowers pH and increases dissolving of calcium carbonate. Hence worries about coral reefs disappearing.

pH is determined by ratio of free CO2 to alkalinity (bicarbonate). If caustic is added, free CO2 is reduced and alkalinity is increased, causing rise in pH. When pH rises to ~ 8.3 all the free CO2 has gone and further caustic reacts with bicarbonate, precipitating calcium carbonate.

Cheers.........Codey

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qaqcpipeman
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#3

Re: Is the oceans rising being caused by the carbon dioxide absorbed

04/30/2010 7:37 PM

I like the way you think out of the box, instead of in the cubicle without windows!!!
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Mag
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#6

Re: Does Absorbed Carbon Dioxide Cause Ocean Levels to Rise

05/01/2010 7:23 PM

Recent comments point out that the world is not a static place. Carbon dioxide forms carbonic acid that forms carbonate deposits that drop to the bottom of the ocean and are dragged relentlessly across the ocean floor to be subducted to form magma that erupts in iceland to create new CO2 and acid that rolls it around the loop again.

The Hudson rebounds from aeons-old ice load only slowly. Somewhere else in the abyss a trough is getting deeper. The Atlantic gets wider. The ocean rushes into the newly created Red Sea. Amazing.
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