The World’s Seafloor Is Rapidly Dissolving, Here’s Why

# Ocean Acidification: The Hidden Crisis Beneath the Waves

Welcome to a very special week as we join *The Swim* to raise awareness about ocean health. While climate change often brings to mind images of smog-filled skies, rising temperatures, and melting ice caps, its impact on our oceans is just as profound—and far more misunderstood. One of the most shocking consequences of global warming is the literal dissolution of pieces of the ocean floor, a phenomenon driven by the excess carbon dioxide we release into the atmosphere.

## How Climate Change Affects Our Oceans

When we talk about climate change, it’s easy to focus on the visible effects: the thickening blanket of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the heatwaves, and the melting ice caps. But our oceans are bearing an invisible brunt of this crisis. For much of Earth’s history, the ocean has acted as a carbon sink, absorbing CO2 from the air. This process is natural and vital, but it comes with a cost.

When CO2 dissolves in seawater, it forms carbonic acid through a chemical reaction. This acid lowers the pH of the ocean, making it more acidic. Normally, this acidity is balanced by a thick layer of calcium carbonate that lines the seafloor. Calcium carbonate, also known as calcite, is not only a key component of seashells but also acts like a natural antacid for the oceans. It neutralizes the carbonic acid and helps maintain the pH balance necessary for marine life to thrive.

## The Seafloor’s Role in Ocean Health

Imagine the seafloor as a giant Tums tablet, constantly reacting with the carbonic acid produced by CO2 absorption. This process keeps the ocean’s pH levels stable, ensuring that marine ecosystems can function healthily. But here’s the problem: human activities have dramatically increased the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, and our oceans are absorbing more of this excess gas than ever before.

In fact, the oceans absorb up to a quarter of all greenhouse gases we release into the atmosphere each year. This influx of CO2 has overwhelmed the seafloor’s ability to neutralize it. The calcium carbonate layer is thinning, and in some areas, it’s dissolving entirely. The consequences are dire: without this protective layer, the oceans are becoming more acidic at an alarming rate, threatening marine life from plankton to coral reefs.

## What We’re Losing: The Calcium Carbonate Layer

The seafloor isn’t just a passive layer of sediment; it’s a dynamic and essential part of the ocean’s health. When calcium carbonate dissolves, it creates “gaping wounds” in the seafloor—a stark visual reminder of what we’re losing. These areas are not just empty space; they represent the exhaustion of our natural buffer against ocean acidification.

In some hotspots, particularly in regions like the northwest Atlantic where ocean currents gather high concentrations of dissolved CO2, as much as 40-100% of the calcium carbonate layer has already been lost. This isn’t just a scientific curiosity; it’s a crisis that threatens the very foundation of marine ecosystems. Without this buffer, the oceans will become too acidic for many species to survive, leading to cascading effects throughout the food chain.

## What Can We Do?

To understand the scale and speed of this dissolution, scientists have recreated deep-sea conditions in laboratory microenvironments. By replicating the seafloor’s environment—down to its currents, salinity, chemistry, and temperature—they can measure how quickly calcite dissolves under modern and historical conditions. These experiments reveal that the rate of dissolution has accelerated dramatically since the industrial era.

While this news is disheartening, it also offers hope. By understanding the problem, we can begin to explore solutions. One possibility is re-seeding the seafloor with calcium carbonate, though this would likely require innovative technological interventions. More research is needed to determine how feasible and effective such solutions could be.

## The Oceans Need Our Help

The health of our oceans is one of the most critical issues facing humanity today. Climate change poses a significant threat, but it’s not the only challenge they face. This week, *The Swim* campaign is highlighting the impact of plastic pollution on marine ecosystems. From microplastics to massive debris fields, plastic waste is suffocating ocean life and disrupting delicate ecosystems.

We can all play a role in protecting our oceans. Reducing plastic use, supporting conservation efforts, and spreading awareness are just a few ways we can make a difference. By working together, we can ensure that future generations have the chance to marvel at the beauty and bounty of our oceans.

## Conclusion

The ocean floor’s dissolution is a stark reminder of how interconnected all life on Earth truly is. Just as the ozone layer protects us from harmful ultraviolet rays, the calcium carbonate layer acts as a shield for marine ecosystems. Without it, the oceans—and the life they support—face an uncertain future.

As we continue to learn more about this hidden crisis, let’s not lose hope. The fight to protect our oceans is ongoing, and every small step counts. Together, we can find solutions to restore balance and ensure that the ocean’s natural rhythms remain intact for centuries to come.

Keep coming back to *Seeker* for all your environmental updates, and thanks for watching.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enWelcome to a very special week, where we'rejoining The Swim to raise awareness aroundocean health.Now climate change may call to mind: cloudsof gases, smog blanketing cities, and risingtemperatures around the globe.But it has also has many profound impactson our oceans too--like the fact that climatechange is literally dissolving pieces of theocean floor.When we release excess gases like carbon dioxide,they linger in the air and insulate the world,basically creating a thick gas blanket thattraps heat and disregulates the world’snatural temperature cycles--and our oceanscome into play here in surprising ways.For a lot of earth’s history, the oceanhas acted as a carbon sink.That means that it absorbs CO2 gas from theair.That CO2 combines with the ocean’s H2O ina chemical reaction that produces carbonicacid.Which, as it sounds, is pretty acidic.In a normal, healthy cycle, this CO2 absorptiondoes lower the pH of the ocean, but luckily--theseafloor is lined with a thick layer of calciumcarbonate.This is what seashells and the other bodiesof some sea creatures are made out of, andthese form a layer on the bottom of the oceanjust like leaves and other dead organismsform the top layer of soil in a forest.And luckily--calcium carbonate, also calledcalcite, is a basic compound.Not as in---oh, calcite, she’s so basic--butlike, the opposite of acidic.In fact, we humans regularly consume calciumcarbonate as an antacid for stuff like heartburn,so we know firsthand how useful it is in combatingacidic environments.So, in a typical cycle, the seafloor basicallyacts like a big Tums tablet, reacting withthat carbonic acid to maintain the ocean’snormal pH and allowing ocean life cycles tokeep swimming along healthily.But.As we all know.Global climate change is happening becausewe humans are putting WAY more carbon dioxideand other greenhouse gases out there intothe atmosphere.And that means that the oceans are absorbingmore and more of that CO2.And they work so hard for us, guys -- absorbingup to a quarter of our total CO2 output everyyear, so when global greenhouse gas emissionsrise….so does the amount of CO2 absorbedby the ocean.This means that there’s not enough calciumcarbonate to keep up with all the carbonicacid that’s being produced, meaning ouroceans are getting more acidic.Not only that, but there’s SO much CO2 beingabsorbed that entire sections of the seafloorare just straight up...dissolving.Now, getting down to the very bottom of theseafloor is hard and expensive, so insteadscientists recreated deep sea conditions inlaboratory microenvironments--down to thecurrents, salinity, chemistry, temperature,alllll the deets.Replicating these environmental variables--whichwere verified by physical sampling and computermodeling--helped the research team pinpointhow fast the calcite dissolves in these environments,both now and back in the day under differentconditions.And by comparing the dissolution rates pre-and post-industrialization, they calculatedhow much is missing currently.And it’s a lot.In some hotspots, anywhere between 40-100%of the calcite seafloor is just gone.Some specific areas, particularly in the northwestAtlantic, are faring worse than others becauseocean currents gather lots of dissolved CO2there, making the calcite seafloor there haveto work a lot harder and thinning it out.So...what’s underneath?I mean there’s not just gaping holes inthe ocean like big bathtub drains, there ismore stuff underneath it, it’s just notthe calcium carbonate that used to be there,that’s all dissolved away.These gaping wounds in the ocean floor essentiallymean we’re exhausting our stockpile of theonly material that keeps the ocean from becomingtoo acidic for life to thrive.Think of it kinda like a deep sea versionof the holes in the ozone layer.As disheartening as this news is, maybe nowthat we know it’s a problem, we can startto address it?Maybe there’s a way to re-seed the oceanfloor with calcium carbonate, maybe thereare human-made technological solutions tohuman-made problems.More work is needed, like further mathematicalmodeling of the issue and more actual samplingof the ocean floor in these areas, but we’llbe finding out soon enough whether there’sanything we can do about it.The health of our oceans is one of the mostimportant issues facing humanity today, andclimate change poses a big threat.Seeker is highlighting The Swim all this week,to bring awareness to the impact of specifically,plastic pollution on our oceans.We ask you to help us spread the message.Tell us how you are reducing plastic pollutionin the comments below.Keep coming back to Seeker for all your environmentupdates, and thanks for watching.\n"