Editing Ocean Acidification (section)

== The Chemistry of Acidification ==

The process of ocean acidification is driven by basic, well-understood inorganic chemistry. When atmospheric CO2 dissolves into seawater (H2O), it does not merely remain as a dissolved gas; it actively reacts with the water to form carbonic acid (H2CO3). 

Because carbonic acid is relatively unstable in seawater, it rapidly dissociates, breaking apart into a bicarbonate ion (HCO3) and a free hydrogen ion (H). The pH of any fluid is a direct measure of the concentration of these free hydrogen ions—the higher the concentration of hydrogen ions, the lower the pH, meaning the water is more acidic. 

Since the pre-industrial era, the average pH of the ocean's surface waters has dropped by approximately 0.1 units. Because the pH scale is logarithmic (like the Richter scale for earthquakes), this 0.1 drop represents a roughly 30% increase in the ocean's overall acidity.