What Effect Would OIF Have On Ocean Acidity?
OIF would not exacerbate surface ocean acidity, and may have a slight beneficial effect. First, it is important to recognize that ocean acidification is a problem of the upper ocean where organisms that secrete calcareous skeletal material are most common. Second, the deep ocean is naturally elevated in acidity due to its much higher carbon content derived from the continual action of the biological pump. Ocean fertilization provides a net reduction of surface ocean acidity by accelerating the transport of CO2 out of surface waters to the deep ocean bicarbonate reservoir. This local decrease in surface ocean acidity can persist for approximately eight months before atmospheric CO2 re-equilibrates with the surface ocean [Jin et al., 2008]. The effect of OIF on deep ocean acidity is very small because of the relative size of the deep ocean carbon pool. To put this in perspective, if the historic total of human CO2 emissions (~1,700 GtCO230) were sequestered to the deep ocean, this would
