Analysis Of Matthew Maury s First Steps - 1061 Words

From Matthew Maury’s first steps in the young field of oceanography, to the HMS Challenger’s first expedition, and now to modern day, the ocean has always been a place for exploration and discovery. Two issues that are at the forefront of modern oceanic discussions are offshore drilling and ocean acidification. Ocean acidification offsets the chemical balance in the ocean and disturbs the marine life in the ocean, and offshore drilling causes serious damage to the surrounding ecosystem and affects the chemical makeup of the ocean through oil spills. An increased amount of acidification has disrupted the chemical balance in the ocean waters in the recent hundreds of years due to the high amount of burning fossil fuels. The Industrial Revolution was a pivotal moment for the chemical equilibrium in the ocean. During this time, scientists realized the prominent effects that the pollution of fossil fuels had on the atmosphere and, respectively, the oceans. Exhaustible fossil fuels such as natural gas, oil, and coal are being used by the human population, and it is releasing large amounts of Carbon Dioxide into the air (National Ocean Service). This in turn creates an atmosphere that is immensely concentrated in CO2; therefore, the ocean absorbs more of the CO2 in the air. According to Marah Hardt and Carl Safina from Yale Climate Connections, high concentrates of carbon dioxide in the ocean creates a PH balance that is very low causing the ocean to become very acidic. When carbon