VIDEO - Acid Test: The Global Challenge of Ocean Acidification

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The data used to generate this graph was compiled from the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies Sea Surface Temperature data archive. The data consists of monthly global means. This graph shows the trend of rising temperatures due to carbon emissions since 1880. A best fit line was made to project average global sea surface temperature for the next 100 years if trends were to remain the same. The 1951-1980 base period temperature is 14 deg C.

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Most people think that carbon emissions only affect our atmosphere and contribute to the "greenhouse gases." This pie chart shows that about 30% of carbon emissions is absorbed by Earth's oceans and that has led to the acidification of it. 45% and 25% of carbon emissions have been absorbed by the atmosphere and land vegetation, respectively [11]. Although we cannot change how much the atmosphere or oceans can absorb besides simply emitting less, we can change how much land vegetation absorbs. The amount of terrestrial uptake depends primarily on changes in land cover and land use.