The time machine in Italy and the invisible threat

A threat or a danger is usually something the human body ether see, hear or smell. Your nerve system tells you to protect yourself to survive and to avoid pain. Most people realize that excessive emissions of CO2 is the biggest threat to life on earth the coming decades.

CO2 is not poisonous like mustard gas. We can’t see it, hear it or smell it. So, when scientists talk about acidification or reduced pH values as mass killers in the oceans, many lose interest. Doesn’t really sound like a real threat, does it?

If you plan to go to Italy, check out the island of Castello Aragonese outside the cost of Naples. There you can snorkle your way into the year 2100 and see what a dying, acid ocean will look like.

How?

Heartburn is not a threat, hyperthermia is

The island is a popular tourist destination. There is a castle there where you can see medieval torture instruments. If you snorkle in the waters surrounding the island, you will see bubbles of CO₂ rise from volcanic vents on the seafloor. The bubbles dissolve to form carbonic acid which means you get much more CO2 in the water here, than the average.

There are only 15-20 such places discovered around the world. Scientists have snorkeled around the island extensively to understand what happens when the CO2 makes the waters more acid.

It’s a perfect place to investigate. Just on the other side of the island, there are no vents. You can return to present time and see for yourself what the ocean look like today. Colorful fish, sea stars and corals on the one side, a dying ocean on the other.

pH is a measure of the relative amount of free hydrogen and hydroxyl ions in the water. Water that has more free hydrogen ions is acidic, whereas water that has more free hydroxyl ions is basic. Lemon juice pH is 2, blood 7 (neutral) and liquid drain cleaner 14, which is the highest on the scale and basic. pH tells us to what extent water has been affected by chemicals. The scale is logarithmic. Each number represents a 10-fold change in the acidity/basicness of the water. Water with pH 5 is ten times more acid than the water having a pH of 6.

Before the Industrial Revolution, the ocean pH was 8.2. Today the average pH is 8.1. A decrease of 0.1 means 30 per cent more acid water. Human beings can control the pH in their blood. Many of the simpler marine species don’t have this ability.

If we continue to emit with today’s pace, the pH will be 7,8 in the year 2100. This is 150 per cent more acid than at the beginning of the 18th century.

An emerging threat in front of your eyes

The water here is as acid as it the world oceans will become in less than 100 years with today’s emissions. Many species have disappeared. The only living organisms the scientists find are some jelly fish, sea grass and algae.

CO2 reacts with seawater to form carbonic acid. The more acid seawater becomes, the less calcium carbonate it can hold. Corals and shellfish need this to build their skeletons. Without it, they become thin and fragile, and this is what has happened to the shells outside Castello Aragonese.

One million tons of CO2 every hour

Human activity has emitted around 500 billion tons of CO2 since the Industrial Revolution. 30 per cent of this has been absorbed by the ocean. Every hour, the oceans absorb one million tons CO2. CO2 levels in the atmosphere today are higher than at any point in at least the past 800,000 years.

So, what is the pH value outside Castello Aragonese?

7.8. And one third of the marine life is gone compared with the other side of the island.

The vents have simmered since the Vikings dragged their ships to what was then called Constantinople. This means that even one thousand years is not enough for species to adapt.

Join the scientists under water outside of Castello Aragonese.