[1] This study uses nearly 25,000 carbon measurements from the WOCE/JGOFS global CO2 survey to examine the distribution of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and total alkalinity (TA) in the Indian Ocean. Shallow and intermediate distributions of inorganic carbon do not strictly follow temperature and salinity because of differing surface gradients and vertical biological processes that work to m...

As a consequence of anthropogenic CO(2-)driven ocean acidification (OA), coastal waters are becoming increasingly challenging for calcifiers due to reductions in saturation states of calcium carbonate (CaCO(3)) minerals. The response of calcification rate is one of the most frequently investigated symptoms of OA. However, OA may also result in poor quality calcareous products through impaired c...

The mechanisms of coral calcification at the molecular, cellular and tissue levels are poorly understood. In this study, we examine calcium carbonate precipitation using novel coral tissue cultures that aggregate to form "proto-polyps". Our goal is to establish an experimental system in which calcification is facilitated at the cellular level, while simultaneously allowing in vitro manipulation...

[1] Climate engineering has been proposed as a possible response to anthropogenic climate change. While climate engineering may be able to stabilize temperatures, it is generally assumed that this will not prevent continued ocean acidification. However, due to the strong coupling between climate and the carbon cycle, climate engineering could indirectly affect ocean chemistry. We used a global ...

[1] Ocean acidification will progress in an episodic manner, yet this has rarely been considered. Here, we investigate how the intensity, duration, and severity of episodic low aragonite saturation state events along the California continental shelf have changed since ~1750, and how they might change up to 2050 under the A2 scenario from the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios by the Intergov...

Ocean acidification, due to anthropogenic CO₂ absorption by the ocean, may have profound impacts on marine biota. Calcareous organisms are expected to be particularly sensitive due to the decreasing availability of carbonate ions driven by decreasing pH levels. Recently, some studies focused on the early life stages of mollusks that are supposedly more sensitive to environmental disturbances th...

[1] Restricted zones of recent dissolution and secondary aragonite infilling were identified in a coral core collected in 1986 from a living massive Porites colony from the central Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Secondary aragonite needles, 20 mm long, cover skeletal surfaces deposited from 1972 to late 1974 and increase bulk density by 10%. Dissolution is observed above this zone, whereas olde...

[1] Core top samples from Atlantic (Little Bahama Banks (LBB)) and Pacific (Hawaii and Indonesia) depth transects have been analyzed in order to assess the influence of bottom water temperature (BWT) and aragonite saturation levels on Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca ratios in the aragonitic benthic foraminifer Hoeglundina elegans. Both the Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca ratios in H. elegans tests show a general decrease with...

We tested whether the thecosome pteropod Limacina helicina from Puget Sound, an urbanized estuary in the northwest continental US, experiences shell dissolution and altered mortality rates when exposed to the high CO2, low aragonite saturation state (Ωa) conditions that occur in Puget Sound and the northeast Pacific Ocean. Five, week-long experiments were conducted in which we incubated pteropo...

The formation conditions, solubility and stability of monohydrocalcite (MHC, CaCO3·H2O), as well as sorption behaviors of toxic anions on MHC, are reviewed to evaluate MHC as a remediation material for hazardous oxyanions. MHC is a rare mineral in geological settings that occurs in recent sediments in saline lakes. Water temperature does not seem to be an important factor for MHC formation. The...