An active underwater volcano which spews torrents of lava and noxious gas has become a surprising hotspot for sea critters, scientists revealed today.
Studying them may provide answers to how sea life could adapt to the world's increasingly acidic oceans, they said.
Lava erupts onto the seafloor from the NW Rota-1 volcano, creating an acidic plume
The unique volcano near the island of Guam erupts so frequently that it has built a new cone 131ft high and 984ft wide in just three years.
'That's as tall as a 12-story building and as wide as a full city block,' said expedition leader Bill Chadwick, a volcanologist at Oregon State University.
But despite the tumultuous conditions a large number of creatures including shrimp, crab, limpets and barnacles, have thrived at the volcano called NW Rota-1.
'They're specially adapted to their environment and are thriving in harsh chemical conditions that would be toxic to normal marine life,' said Chadwick.
'Life here is actually nourished by the erupting volcano.'
Two unique species of shrimp were discovered at the volcano, which had adapted to the acidic conditions
Sea water is slightly alkaline, but the rise of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been mirrored by an increase of CO2 dissolving in the oceans and forming carbonic acid.
Ocean acidification is a serious concern because it can be fatal to some fish eggs and larvae and interferes with the formation of shells.
'Submarine volcanoes are places where we can study how animals have adapted to very acidic conditions,' Chadwick said.
'Volcanic gases make the eruption cloud extremely acidic - worse than stomach acid.'
Verena Tunnicliffe, a biologist from the University of Victoria, said that two species of shrimp had revealed intriguing adaptations to volcano living.
'The 'Loihi' shrimp has adapted to grazing the bacterial filaments with tiny claws like garden shears,' said Tunnicliffe.
'The second shrimp is a new species - they also graze as juveniles, but as they grow to adult stage, their front claws enlarge and they become predators.'
The new species attacks the Loihi shrimp and preys on marine life that wanders too close to the volcanic plumes and dies.
'We saw dying fish, squid, and so on, raining down onto the sea mount, where they were jumped on by the volcano shrimp - a lovely adaptation to exploiting the noxious effects of the volcano,' Tunnicliffe said.
The international science team had previously visited the hydrothermal site in 2004 and 2006, but this was the first time they studies the volcano in detail and close up.
Jason's arm (top right) samples the gas spewing from the volcano NW Rota-1. The dark rocks are lava.
The latest mission took place during April 2009 and the team captured dramatic new images of the volcano's eruptive behavior with the remotely operated vehicle Jason.
'It was amazing how close Jason can get to the eruptive vent because the pressure at a depth of 1,700 feet in the ocean keeps the energy released from the volcano from becoming too explosive,' Chadwick added.
Some of the most intriguing observations came when the volcano slowly pushed lava up and out of the erupting vent.
'As this was happening, the ground in front of us shuddered and quaked, and huge blocks were bulldozed out of the way to make room for new lava emerging from the vent,' Chadwick said.
NW Rota-1 provides a one-of-a-kind natural laboratory for the investigation of undersea volcanic activity and its relation to chemical-based ecosystems at hydrothermal vents, where life on Earth may have originated.
'It is unusual for a volcano to be continuously active, even on land,' Chadwick pointed out.
'This presents us with a fantastic opportunity to learn about processes we've never been able to directly observe before,' he said.
Part of the evidence that the volcano is in a constant state of eruption comes from an underwater microphone - or hydrophone - that was deployed a year ago at NW Rota-1 by OSU geologist Bob Dziak.
The hydrophone 'listened' for the sounds of volcanic activity. Another hydrophone and other instruments will monitor the volcano in the coming year.
The international team included scientists from OSU, the University of Washington, University of Victoria, University of Oregon, NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, New Zealand and Japan. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation.
Comment: This article is a good example of how the media can slip in their subtle suggestions supporting the anthropogenic global warming agenda. Specifically the implication that increasing CO2 in the atmosphere leads to the acidified oceans and the global killing of oceanic species.
And here it is, article quote:
Sea water is slightly alkaline, but the rise of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been mirrored by an increase of CO2 dissolving in the oceans and forming carbonic acid.
Ocean acidification is a serious concern because it can be fatal to some fish eggs and larvae and interferes with the formation of shells.
Remember the recent scaremongering that the Great Barrier Reef was dying due to global warming and CO2. Well it wasn't. Global warming and CO2 had nothing to do with it. See:
Australian scientists celebrate Great Barrier Reef comeback.
There are many good, credible sources for studies on ocean acidification and CO2 / carbonate balance in the world's oceans.
One good reference is as follows (
Link):
Acid in the Oceans Fraud
The pH of the oceans is 8.1, which is alkaline, and there has been no measured acidification.
Two billion years ago, there was a huge amount of carbon dioxide in the air and carbonate in the oceans. Since then, most of it disappeared. It was converted to calcium carbonate in the oceans and ultimately limestone. Now there is a shortage. The human addition is slightly rescuing life and the planet by increasing the CO2. For propagandists to claim humans are destroying life and the planet through CO2 couldn't be a bigger fraud.
The oceans have had almost four billion years to absorb carbon dioxide. Why are the oceans not acidic? Hasn't there been enough time yet? There was five times as much CO2 in the air during dinosaur years as now. The oceans rapidly stabilize; and they stabilized at pH 8.1 due to the alkalinity of calcium and its buffering capacity.
Fraudulent scientists uses hydrochloric acid in laboratory tanks to test the effects of carbon dioxide on ocean biology due to increased acidity. CO2 is in equilibrium with carbonate, which improves marine growth and shell production, while HCl does not. Example
Carbon dioxide propagandists have a campaign going for an "acid in the ocean" alternative to the greenhouse gas scare. This tactic is a result of the danger of the "greenhouse gas" lie blowing up in their faces at any time due to the obvious scientific frauds.
Carbon dioxide has been an extremely effective and insidious propaganda scheme, being used as the latest pretext for population reduction and shoving the lower classes out of the economy. The public considers the greenhouse gas problem to be unquestionable science and an imminent peril. This does not immunize it from scientific truth, which is bound to expose it eventually. But the acid ploy is unrelated to global warming, and it salvages the propaganda value of carbon dioxide.
The acid fraud says that humans are putting more carbon dioxide into the oceans (through the atmosphere), and the CO2 converts to acid in the oceans, while corals are supposedly sensitive to acid and cannot produce their calcium shells in such an environment.
The most significant fact about the acid fraud is that there has never been real damage to corals found as a result of increased acidity of the oceans. The damage to coral reefs which has been occurring is caused by heat, disease, etc., but not by acidity of the ocean water. There are major reasons why. Oceans have such a huge potential to neutralize acid that no significant pH change is occurring. And all biological cells have evolved the ability to cope with pH changes. The propaganda is a mindless argument over the chemistry of calcium without a trace of biology or evolution.
Concerning point one, the human production of CO2 per year is 0.014% of the amount of carbon already in the oceans. Part of the carbon which enters the oceans is converted into neutral cell mass; and this is one of the reasons why there is no acid problem. Biology converts CO2 into neutral cell mass.
Another reason why the acid scare is a fraud is because the CO2 levels in the atmosphere always fluctuate during ice age cycles, and the cycle is exactly the same now as it was during the previous ice age. There is nothing unusual about it. Biology easily adapts to such variations.
Physiology totally controls pH within cells. This means that the pH of ocean water has no relationship to the pH within the cells, where calcium carbonate shells are created. Survival of ancient coral reefs is a different matter, but creating them through living cells is a not a pH problem in the oceans. pH will affect the algae which are exploited by corals, but as one species leaves, another species which is more adapted to lower pH enters.
One of the most difficult questions to study in biology is how cells control their internal pH. It's difficult to study, because every chemical reaction in a cell influences pH. Evolution takes into account the total effects and produces a result which is favorable to survival. As a result, acid comes and goes in biological cells with no indication of where from or where to. All biologists can do is observe the end result. And biologists observe total control over extremes in pH in biological systems. For the frauds to claim that a small fraction of a pH change in the ocean cannot be handled by corals is a contrivance in conflict with biological principles.
Propagandists claim carbon dioxide is an acid, and acid destroys carbonate in the ocean, while corals require carbonate. But CO2 isn't just an acid; it is in equilibrium with carbonate. This means more CO2 entering the oceans results in more carbonate, not less.
There are two scientific frauds involved. One is to view CO2 only as an acid, as if it were equivalent to hydrochloric acid, while ignoring its equilibrium with carbonate. The other fraud is to ignore the huge buffering capacity of the oceans, which results in no detectable acidity from CO2 entering the oceans.
When adding up the absence of increased acidity with the equilibrium between CO2 and carbonate, the net result is that CO2 is increasing the carbonate which corals need, not decreasing it.
A new study and web site explains the oceanography of carbon dioxide and shows the errors of the propagandists who claim that increased CO2 in the oceans will make the oceans more acidic and destroy coral reefs. Near the surface of the oceans, increased photosynthesis creates alkalinity rather than acidity. There is in fact a shortage of acid near the surface for the promotion of photosynthesis. The decay which creates acidity occurs 1-2 kilometers down, which is way below the level of coral reefs.
This subject is explained by Dr. J. Floor Anthoni here:
(
New Oceanograhy Study)
Another Study: Science Magazine, April 18, 2008Iglesias-Rodriguez, et al, Phytoplankton Calcification in a High-CO2 World. April 18, 2008. Science 320: 336-340. (
Link)
Dr J Floor Anthoni describes the study as follows:
An important and complicated study looked at the plankton record in a deep sea core of the North Atlantic while also conducting experiments with living cultures of one of the most common small phytoplankton organisms, the coccolith Emiliania huxleyi. This coccolith is a major contributor to calcium deposits in the oceans (50%). Contrary to other studies that found a decrease in calcification, this study found an increase in calcification, accompanied by larger individuals, although at somewhat slower growth rates. The difference in experimental setup may have been decisive:
whereas others changed the pH by adding external acids or bases, this team mimicked the real world more accurately by bubbling air with known concentrations of CO2 (280-750ppm, pH=8.1-7.7) through their cultures. This gives high credibility to their findings:
- a doubling of particulate organic carbon, a doubling of size and calcite shell
- slightly slower growth rates but photosynthetic health unaffected
- near-constant C:N ratio (6.8-8.3), an indication of food value for grazers
- the deep cores showed an increase in coccolith mass of about 40% in the past 220 years, which roughly agrees with experiments.
The curve has a hockey-stick appearance, climbing more steeply in the past 25 years (~25%).
This study shows that paradoxically, even though calcite dissolves more rapidly at higher carbon dioxide concentrations, it is apparently also more easily made, resulting in heavier shells. A lower pH also encourages productivity, which provides the energy to grow bigger and to make larger shells. Note that this is exactly what we predicted earlier. The deep sea cores furthermore show that coccoliths provide a substantial sink for CO2, while adjusting to high-CO2 conditions by increasing this sink. Please note that studies like this and others need to be replicated and confirmed, and also note that the carbon chemistry of the oceans interacts with stabilising sediments (buffer). Also note that sea temperature plays an important role.
Dr J Floor Anthoni
Director Seafriends Marine Conservation and Education Centre
7 Goat Island Rd; Leigh R.D.5; New Zealand
Seafriends web site:
http://www.seafriends.org.nz/CO2 and Coral Reefs -
A Review of the Science
Comment: This article is a good example of how the media can slip in their subtle suggestions supporting the anthropogenic global warming agenda. Specifically the implication that increasing CO2 in the atmosphere leads to the acidified oceans and the global killing of oceanic species.
And here it is, article quote: Remember the recent scaremongering that the Great Barrier Reef was dying due to global warming and CO2. Well it wasn't. Global warming and CO2 had nothing to do with it. See: Australian scientists celebrate Great Barrier Reef comeback.
There are many good, credible sources for studies on ocean acidification and CO2 / carbonate balance in the world's oceans.
One good reference is as follows (Link):
The pH of the oceans is 8.1, which is alkaline, and there has been no measured acidification. Carbon dioxide propagandists have a campaign going for an "acid in the ocean" alternative to the greenhouse gas scare. This tactic is a result of the danger of the "greenhouse gas" lie blowing up in their faces at any time due to the obvious scientific frauds.
Carbon dioxide has been an extremely effective and insidious propaganda scheme, being used as the latest pretext for population reduction and shoving the lower classes out of the economy. The public considers the greenhouse gas problem to be unquestionable science and an imminent peril. This does not immunize it from scientific truth, which is bound to expose it eventually. But the acid ploy is unrelated to global warming, and it salvages the propaganda value of carbon dioxide.
The acid fraud says that humans are putting more carbon dioxide into the oceans (through the atmosphere), and the CO2 converts to acid in the oceans, while corals are supposedly sensitive to acid and cannot produce their calcium shells in such an environment.
The most significant fact about the acid fraud is that there has never been real damage to corals found as a result of increased acidity of the oceans. The damage to coral reefs which has been occurring is caused by heat, disease, etc., but not by acidity of the ocean water. There are major reasons why. Oceans have such a huge potential to neutralize acid that no significant pH change is occurring. And all biological cells have evolved the ability to cope with pH changes. The propaganda is a mindless argument over the chemistry of calcium without a trace of biology or evolution.
Concerning point one, the human production of CO2 per year is 0.014% of the amount of carbon already in the oceans. Part of the carbon which enters the oceans is converted into neutral cell mass; and this is one of the reasons why there is no acid problem. Biology converts CO2 into neutral cell mass.
Another reason why the acid scare is a fraud is because the CO2 levels in the atmosphere always fluctuate during ice age cycles, and the cycle is exactly the same now as it was during the previous ice age. There is nothing unusual about it. Biology easily adapts to such variations.
Physiology totally controls pH within cells. This means that the pH of ocean water has no relationship to the pH within the cells, where calcium carbonate shells are created. Survival of ancient coral reefs is a different matter, but creating them through living cells is a not a pH problem in the oceans. pH will affect the algae which are exploited by corals, but as one species leaves, another species which is more adapted to lower pH enters.
One of the most difficult questions to study in biology is how cells control their internal pH. It's difficult to study, because every chemical reaction in a cell influences pH. Evolution takes into account the total effects and produces a result which is favorable to survival. As a result, acid comes and goes in biological cells with no indication of where from or where to. All biologists can do is observe the end result. And biologists observe total control over extremes in pH in biological systems. For the frauds to claim that a small fraction of a pH change in the ocean cannot be handled by corals is a contrivance in conflict with biological principles.
Propagandists claim carbon dioxide is an acid, and acid destroys carbonate in the ocean, while corals require carbonate. But CO2 isn't just an acid; it is in equilibrium with carbonate. This means more CO2 entering the oceans results in more carbonate, not less.
There are two scientific frauds involved. One is to view CO2 only as an acid, as if it were equivalent to hydrochloric acid, while ignoring its equilibrium with carbonate. The other fraud is to ignore the huge buffering capacity of the oceans, which results in no detectable acidity from CO2 entering the oceans.
When adding up the absence of increased acidity with the equilibrium between CO2 and carbonate, the net result is that CO2 is increasing the carbonate which corals need, not decreasing it.
A new study and web site explains the oceanography of carbon dioxide and shows the errors of the propagandists who claim that increased CO2 in the oceans will make the oceans more acidic and destroy coral reefs. Near the surface of the oceans, increased photosynthesis creates alkalinity rather than acidity. There is in fact a shortage of acid near the surface for the promotion of photosynthesis. The decay which creates acidity occurs 1-2 kilometers down, which is way below the level of coral reefs.
This subject is explained by Dr. J. Floor Anthoni here:
(New Oceanograhy Study)
Another Study: Science Magazine, April 18, 2008
Iglesias-Rodriguez, et al, Phytoplankton Calcification in a High-CO2 World. April 18, 2008. Science 320: 336-340. (Link)
Dr J Floor Anthoni describes the study as follows:
An important and complicated study looked at the plankton record in a deep sea core of the North Atlantic while also conducting experiments with living cultures of one of the most common small phytoplankton organisms, the coccolith Emiliania huxleyi. This coccolith is a major contributor to calcium deposits in the oceans (50%). Contrary to other studies that found a decrease in calcification, this study found an increase in calcification, accompanied by larger individuals, although at somewhat slower growth rates. The difference in experimental setup may have been decisive: whereas others changed the pH by adding external acids or bases, this team mimicked the real world more accurately by bubbling air with known concentrations of CO2 (280-750ppm, pH=8.1-7.7) through their cultures. This gives high credibility to their findings:
- a doubling of particulate organic carbon, a doubling of size and calcite shell
- slightly slower growth rates but photosynthetic health unaffected
- near-constant C:N ratio (6.8-8.3), an indication of food value for grazers
- the deep cores showed an increase in coccolith mass of about 40% in the past 220 years, which roughly agrees with experiments.
The curve has a hockey-stick appearance, climbing more steeply in the past 25 years (~25%).This study shows that paradoxically, even though calcite dissolves more rapidly at higher carbon dioxide concentrations, it is apparently also more easily made, resulting in heavier shells. A lower pH also encourages productivity, which provides the energy to grow bigger and to make larger shells. Note that this is exactly what we predicted earlier. The deep sea cores furthermore show that coccoliths provide a substantial sink for CO2, while adjusting to high-CO2 conditions by increasing this sink. Please note that studies like this and others need to be replicated and confirmed, and also note that the carbon chemistry of the oceans interacts with stabilising sediments (buffer). Also note that sea temperature plays an important role.
Dr J Floor Anthoni
Director Seafriends Marine Conservation and Education Centre
7 Goat Island Rd; Leigh R.D.5; New Zealand
Seafriends web site: http://www.seafriends.org.nz/
CO2 and Coral Reefs - A Review of the Science