Richard A. Feely of the National Atmospheric and Oceanographic association (NOAA) in Boulder Colorado, has published some stunning papers available at
www.scirus.com for free, that shake our world view of the oceans. By 2017 when the projected CO2 level will reach 450 ppm, the deep ocean currents will offgas CO2 in the southern ocean, turning this part of the ocean very acidic from carbonic acid which exists in huge quantities in the deep oceans due to ocean pressure and millenia of diffusion.
The following article suggests a way that we can economically save the oceans, the fish, the coral and the shellfish and molluscs, by some simple calcium chemistry in the oceans involving Calcium carbonate (aragonite and calcite:limestone deposits) and calcium bicarbonate.
Algae, whether it produces methane aka Craig Ventnor or whether it produces oxygen, aka natures design which i prefer since O2 is becoming depleted by the burning of coal and fossil fuels, should enable us to produce fertilizer, livestock feed and biodiesel (net zero CO2 emissions), or avoid the production of biodiesel and create a net sink of CO2 into the algae. The calcium added back to the ocean binds up the acid in bicarbonate and buffers it, and forms CaCO3, a precipate that replenishes the supply from the limestone deposits.
read on for more details
http://contest.techbriefs.com/...
this would be a serious geoengineering project, requiring maybe a million plants worldwide, though the throughput and operating conditions for optimum chemistry are yet to be determined.
the alternative is Rebeccas wild farm:
http://www.archive.org/...
ocean blueprint for 21st century
http://www.imedea.uib.es/...
global ocean biogeochemistry and carbon cycle
http://dataone.whoi.edu/...