Geothermal heat from submarine vulcanism not only warms the seas (not accounted for in climate models) but because it is localized to the spreading centers, it drives convection that also influences ocean currents (PDO, AMO, El Nino, etc.). There is also the issue of the injection of massive amounts of volcanic gases directly into the seas. The volcanic methane is neutral and the volcanic CO2 is only weakly acidic, but the volcanic sulfur oxides are very strongly acidic – enough so that they are the prime determinants of marine pH readings. Fortunately surface runoff from the land tends to carry more alkaline constituents (ash from fires, leachate from soils), more than enough to neutralize this volcanic acidity.
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Geothermal heat from submarine vulcanism not only warms the seas (not accounted for in climate models) but because it is localized to the spreading centers, it drives convection that also influences ocean currents (PDO, AMO, El Nino, etc.). There is also the issue of the injection of massive amounts of volcanic gases directly into the seas. The volcanic methane is neutral and the volcanic CO2 is only weakly acidic, but the volcanic sulfur oxides are very strongly acidic – enough so that they are the prime determinants of marine pH readings. Fortunately surface runoff from the land tends to carry more alkaline constituents (ash from fires, leachate from soils), more than enough to neutralize this volcanic acidity.