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Climate change: what is ocean acidification?
- Immediate action is required to prevent total ocean collapse, as the window to avoid the worst effects of acidification has closed.
- Scientists project that by the end of this century, ocean acidity will increase by 150% relative to current levels due to rising CO2.
- Future marine ecosystems are expected to become hotter, more acidic, and increasingly oxygen-deprived as carbon emissions continue.
- If current trends persist, the long-term trajectory may result in the ocean's destruction being taught in history rather than science.
- Research identifies ocean acidification as the primary cause of coral porosis, where coral skeletons dissolve, threatening deep-sea habitats and the broader food chain.
- Simulations exposing deep-sea coral to acidified, warmer, and low-oxygen water are underway, with ecosystem collapse timeline results anticipated in autumn 2023.
- Declines in salmon numbers and size are forecasted due to the loss of pteropods, whose shells are already dissolving in real-world conditions.
- Mitigating a single year of global CO2 emissions at current rates via the Heimdall system would require approximately 36 million units.
- The Heimdall technology is designed to be scalable within standard containers and aims to restore ocean pH to pre-Industrial Revolution levels.
- Technological carbon removal alone is deemed insufficient unless atmospheric carbon volumes are also reduced.
- Humanity must implement immediate trajectory controls to ensure the environmental crash remains survivable.