Oceans

Impacts of anthropogenic SOx, NOx and NH3 on acidification of coastal waters and shipping lanes

  1. Keith A. Hunter1,
  2. Peter S. Liss2,
  3. Vanisa Surapipith3,
  4. Frank Dentener4,
  5. Robert Duce5,
  6. Maria Kanakidou6,
  7. Nilgun Kubilay7,
  8. Natalie Mahowald8,
  9. Greg Okin9,
  10. Manmohan Sarin10,
  11. Mitsuo Uematsu11,
  12. Tong Zhu12

Article first published online: 7 JUL 2011

DOI: 10.1029/2011GL047720

Issue

Geophysical Research Letters

Geophysical Research Letters

Additional Information

How to Cite

Hunter, K. A., et al. (2011), Impacts of anthropogenic SOx, NOx and NH3 on acidification of coastal waters and shipping lanes, Geophys. Res. Lett., 38, L13602, doi:10.1029/2011GL047720.

Author Information

  1. 1

    Division of Sciences, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

  2. 2

    School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

  3. 3

    Pollution Control Department, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Bangkok, Thailand

  4. 4

    Institute for Environment and Sustainability, European Commission Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy

  5. 5

    Departments of Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA

  6. 6

    Environmental Chemical Processes Laboratory, Chemistry Department, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece

  7. 7

    Institute of Marine Sciences, Middle East Technical University, Erdemli, Turkey

  8. 8

    Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA

  9. 9

    Department of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA

  10. 10

    Department of Geosciences, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, India

  11. 11

    Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

  12. 12

    College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, China

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 7 JUL 2011
  2. Article first published online: 7 JUL 2011
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 24 MAY 2011
  4. Manuscript Revised: 22 MAY 2011
  5. Manuscript Received: 13 APR 2011

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Keywords:

  • NH3;
  • NOx;
  • Sox;
  • carbon dioxide;
  • ocean acidification

[1] The acidification of the ocean by anthropogenic CO2 absorbed from the atmosphere is now well-recognized and is considered to have lowered surface ocean pH by 0.1 since the mid-18th century. Future acidification may lead to undersaturation of CaCO3 making growth of calcifying organisms difficult. However, other anthropogenic gases also have the potential to alter ocean pH and CO2 chemistry, specifically SOx and NOx and NH3. We demonstrate using a simple chemical model that in coastal water regions with high atmospheric inputs of these gases, their pH reduction is almost completely canceled out by buffering reactions involving seawater HCO3− and CO32− ions. However, a consequence of this buffering is a significant decrease in the uptake of anthropogenic CO2 by the atmosphere in these areas.

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