Chapter 5 · Try it yourself
Carbonate Balance
Slide the amount of carbon dioxide in the air up and down. Watch what it does to the ocean's pH, to the carbonate ions corals build with, and to how fast a coral can grow.
425 ppm
How much a coral can build in the same amount of time
What happens in the water
Seawater pH8.06
Loose hydrogen ions, compared with the 1800s+25%
Carbonate ions left for building84%
Saturation state (omega)3.8
Good for building
Simplified model for warm tropical surface water, fitted to published estimates (about pH 8.17 and omega 4.6 before 1800; about pH 8.05 and omega 3.8 today). Real reefs vary with temperature, place and season.