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Carnegie Researchers Say Geotech Can't Cure Ocean Acidification

Posted by timothy on from the take-it-with-a-ton-of-salt dept.

CarnegieScience writes "Plans to stop global warming by 'geoengineering' the planet by putting aerosols in the atmosphere to block sunlight are controversial, to say the least. Scientists are now pointing out that even if it keeps the planet cool, it will do almost nothing to stop another major problem — ocean acidification. The ocean will keep on absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (making carbonic acid) and the water's pH will get too low for corals and other marine life to secrete skeletons. So this is another strike against a quick fix of our climate problems."

1 of 248 comments (clear)

  1. It's a computer model, not real world research. by psnyder · · Score: 0, Redundant
    From the article:

    Until the current study, which used a computer model of the Earth's climate system and biosphere to simulate the effect of geoengineering on climate and the ocean's chemistry, the potential impact of such a scheme on ocean acidification had never been calculated.

    This is a computer model. The people who wrote it may very well be correct, but they are the ones that wrote the variables and input the numbers. This should not be thought of on the same level as experimentation or direct observations in the real world. This is not evidence, and there are no new concrete findings.


    I believe this guy says it pretty well in the beginning of his video:

    I have built computer models, dynamic systems, and other complex processes for over 20 years, and I can tell you that it is extraordinarily easy to create computer models that spew out meaningless results. And the more complex the model, the easier it is to get such a mess.

    Everything on Earth (and much in space) affects the oceans which cover 70% of it. The complexity is enormous.

    Computer models (when done well) can be useful tools to guide us to where we should be doing the actual research. Ocean acidification is a real issue, and I applaud the people at Carnegie Melon's Dept. of Ecology for attempting to tackle this. But we should stop giving computer models the same emphasis as findings in the real world.