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Ocean acidification is said to be caused when excess atmospheric carbon dioxide is absorbed by the sea, reducing its pH level to make it more acidic

Ocean Acidification- A New Climategate?



A good way to excite people is to tell them that something has become more 'acid' as 'the oceans are undergoing acidification and this is a potential environmental catastrophe.'
Ocean acidification (OA) is receiving growing attention. OA is claimed to be a phenomenon that will destroy ocean life—all due to mankind's use of fossil fuels. For years OA has been touted by environmentalists as possibly the greatest threat to the planet after 'global warming'. According to Jane Lubchenko, the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), it is 'climate change's equally even twin' because of the disastrous consequences it may have for everything from the navigational systems of spawning salmon to the health of coral reefs, reports James Delingpole. (1) Ocean acidification is said to be caused when excess atmospheric carbon dioxide is absorbed by the sea, reducing its pH level to make it more acidic. But with new evidence unearthed by an inquisitive graduate student it is possible that ocean acidification may be a scientific fraud to rank with the great 'man-made-global-warming' scare. (1)

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A 2004 paper by two of PMEL's (Pacific Environmental Laboratory- a department of NOAA) senior oceanographers, Dr. Richard Feely and Dr. Christopher Sabine-- is often cited in support of 'ocean acidification' theory and is reproduced in simplified form at NOAA's website. It also formed part of the testimony that Feely gave to Congress in 2010, again to the effect that increasing atmospheric CO2 is causing a reduction in seawater pH. This is the same Richard Feely quoted in the following article: USF researchers raised a warning flag that upper-ocean pH had, over the preceding one-and-a-half decades, decreased by approximately 0.026 units, equivalent to an average annual pH change of -0.0017, over a large section of the northeastern Pacific. “The pH decrease is direct evidence for ocean acidification,” said Richard Feely. “These dramatic changes can be attributed, in most part to anthropogenic CO2 uptake by the ocean over a 15 year period.” (2) Pretty hefty words for a pH change of 0.0017 per year. Have you ever tried to measured pH? How do you get a value as low as 0.0017? How do you measure pH to four significant figures? Anyhow, back to the present: James Delingpole observes: “It now seems that the 2004 paper's certainty is at best misplaced, at worst outright dishonest. Not unlike Michael Mann's discredited hockey stick graph it appears to depend on cherry-picked data and misleading projections in defiance of real-world evidence.” (1) The alleged fraud was uncovered by Mike Wallace, a hydrologist with nearly 30 years experience now working towards his Ph.D at the University of New Mexico. While studying a chart produced by Feely and Sabine, apparently showing a strong correlation between rising atmospheric CO2 levels and falling oceanic pH levels, Wallace noticed that some key information had been omitted. Mysteriously, the chart only began in 1988. But Wallace knew for a fact that there were oceanic pH measurements dating back to at least 100 years earlier and was puzzled that this solid data had been ignored, in favor of computer modeled projections. (3) When Sabine was contacted by Wallace he replied that it was inappropriate for Wallace to impugn the 'motives or quality of our science' and warned that if he continued in this manner 'you will not last long in your career.' Having provided Wallace with a few links—all of which turned out to be useless—he concluded his email by saying, 'I hope you will refrain from contacting me again.' Undeterred, Wallace eventually got hold of the instrumental records which Feely and Sabine had chosen to exclude form their graph of doom and plotted a time series chart of his own, covering the period from 1910 to the present. Surprise! Surprise! Wallace's results show there has been no reduction in oceanic pH levels in the last century. What they suggest is that global acidification is a figment of Feely's and Sabine's imagination. (1) In conclusion, Wallace asks, “In whose professional world is it acceptable to omit the majority of the data and also to not disclose the omission to any other soul or Congressional body? It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Surely, this raises a very important question about cherry-picking of data that needs further study. For more detailed background on this report, see Marita Noon's account, reference 3. Jack Dini Livermore, CA

References

1. James Delingpole, “NOAAGATE; how ocean acidification could turn out to be the biggest hoax since Michael Mann's hockey stick,” breitbart.com, December 23, 2014 2. Dennis Ambler, “Acid seas-back to basic,” SPPI Original Paper, February 11, 2010 3. Marita Noon, “Obama's climate change policies are a pHraud,” Canada Free Press, December 22, 2014


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Jack Dini -- Bio and Archives

Jack Dini is author of Challenging Environmental Mythology.  He has also written for American Council on Science and Health, Environment & Climate News, and Hawaii Reporter.


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