COVID-19 UNDER THE SEA By
David Yao Sophia Carino
It has been seven months since the coronavirus crossed the line in our lives from being a mere news notification to manifesting itself, for the fortunate, in the form of quarantine. With so much time that has gone by, many of us have found ways to adapt to our newly brought-on circumstances. For some, a drive to work became a walk to a computer, meetups with friends turned into Google Meets, and trips to the grocery store “cyberized� to online shopping. Surveys conducted by the US Census Bureau quantify the extent to which these impacts have in the U.S. From September 30th to October 12th, 37.5% of the 250 million adult respondents reported that a portion or the entirety of their job turned into telework. Similarly, around 35.1 and 52 percent of respondents reported reducing their number of trips to stores and public transportation use, respectively. On the surface, these statistics show relatively substantial progress to climate sustainability compared to past years. The partial revitalization of the economy, in conjunction with reduced transportation, gives hope that a working economy and climate concerns are not mutually exclusive. However, the impact of the global pandemic transcends deeper than just the surface. The data suggests more people have thought twice about taking trips and utilizing public transportation than before COVID-19, but beneath this environmental solace lies our natural drift towards
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the pre-COVID-19 environment. Take, for example, the reduction in public transportation usage. A study conducted by a Vanderbilt University professor, Dan Work, shows how the discontinuation of public transportation services could lead to increased traffic congestion in major cities such as Chicago, New York, Boston, San Francisco, etc. With the inevitable switch from pooling passengers in one vehicle to using individual vehicles, traffic in these cities is predicted to substantially escalate- increasing the number of vehicles and the amount of emission per vehicle. In fact, models by Glen Peters et al. add we will most likely see an increase in gas emissions during 2021 despite the 2020 reduction. Needless to say, COVID-19 has influenced atmospheric chemistry; yet, another overlooked facet of the pandemic is its impact below sea level. Before COVID-19, a long-term concern for oceans was acidification. In ocean acidification, atmospheric molecules, the most notable being carbon dioxide, are absorbed into the ocean, react with water, and reduce carbonate concentrations, all while increasing the pH of the environment. Experiments have shown this process alters marine ecosystems to the point where even predator-prey relationships change. The news of smaller nitrogen dioxide concentrations and less carbon dioxide emissions post-COVID-19 have led experts in the field to believe oceans are recovering. Unfortunately, this change was not brought about
