More evidence on the imminent danger of ocean acidification was published last month. The study from Bristol University warned that acidification is progressing faster than at any time during the past 65 million years, with potentially devastating effects for marine ecosystems. According to the paper’s abstract:

In our simulation of future ocean conditions, we find an undersaturation with respect to carbonate in the deep ocean that exceeds that experienced during the Palaeocene–Eocene thermal maximum and could endanger calcifying organisms. Furthermore, our simulations show higher rates of environmental change at the surface for the future than the Palaeocene–Eocene thermal maximum, which could potentially challenge the ability of plankton to adapt.

During the Palaeocene-Eocene extinction, bottom-dwelling organisms were disproportionately impacted, with surface-dwelling plankton relatively unaffected. This time around, though, things might be different. The speed of acidification (estimated to be 10 times faster than previous events) will prevent many of the adaptations that prevented even greater extinctions in the past.

Ocean acidification will destroy coral reefs

So why is this relevant? The main reason is that many of the small marine calcifiers affected by ocean acidification form the foundation of the ocean food web. And if their numbers collapse, what will happen further up the chain? And what will happen to us?

Finally, remember these important points:

Acidification of the oceans has been called “the other carbon dioxide problem”, as it is not directly related to global warming or climate change, but rather the increasing amounts of carbon dioxide dissolved in seawater.

Geoengineering schemes that aim to cool the planet without removing CO2 from the atmosphere will have no effect on ocean pH

The accelerating rate of acidification makes it likely that major marine structures like Australia’s Great Barrier Reef will stop growing and start dissolving by 2050.

Although climate change skeptics might point out that coral reefs have survived past CO2 peaks, it is the speed of change (preventing migration and genetic adaptation) and the inability of the oceans to buffer increasing amounts of carbon dioxide, that have the potential to cause a mass extinction.

See the paper’s abstract here. Read a related editorial at the YALE 360 site called An Ominous Warning on the Effects of Ocean Acidification. Photo by Tom Clifton/flickr.

Related posts:

1. Ocean Acidification: The REAL climate change threat?
2. Ocean Acidification – Major Report
3. EPA: Clean Water Act could be used to slow ocean acidification

Ocean acidification significantly impairs shell-formation in marine calcifiers, including coral reefs and shellfish.

NEW YORK TIMES: States bordering water bodies that are becoming more acidic from the absorption of carbon dioxide should list them as impaired under the Clean Water Act, the Environmental Protection Agency declared in a memo this week.

Carbon dioxide emissions are considered a threat not only because of their heat-trapping properties in the atmosphere but also because of their ability to change ocean chemistry. The world’s oceans act as a sponge for carbon dioxide, and as the gas dissolves in seawater, it changes into carbonic acid. Read full article…..

Related posts:

1. Ocean Acidification: The REAL climate change threat?
2. More Evidence on Ocean Acidification
3. More on Ocean Acidification

I’ve just finished a major report on ocean acidification. I have published the executive summary below. You can click here to download the ocean acidification report as a pdf (approx 3.8Mb).

Executive Summary

Ocean acidification has been called “the other CO2 problem” and even “global warming’s evil twin”. It occurs when carbon dioxide dissolves in seawater, producing carbonic acid (H2CO3).

Carbonic acid rapidly dissociates to produce hydrogen (H+) and bicarbonate ions (HCO3-). The hydrogen ions so produced combine with carbonate ions(CO3), sourced from calcium carbonate (CaCO3) to form more bicarbonate. This reduces the amount of available calcium carbonate.

Ocean acidification must be recognized for what it is – A global challenge of unprecedented scale and importance that requires immediate action to halt the trend of increasing acidification (EPOCA 2009).

Calcium carbonate is used by many marine organisms (including coral, oysters, mussels and many types of plankton) to form shells and skeletons. Less calcium carbonate makes it harder for these organisms to precipitate calcium.

As the oceans have absorbed about one-third of all anthropogenic carbon dioxide, they are now 30% more acidic than in pre-industrial times. This drop in pH is already reducing calcification rates of some marine calcifiers, especially those in colder waters (which can absorb more CO2 than warmer seawater).

Many ocean species rely on calcium to make shells and skeletons.

If CO2 emissions continue on their current trajectory, oceans will be 3x – 5x more acidic than pre-industrial levels by 2100. This will be more acidic than at any time in t he last 300 million years. The effects of this are unprecedented, but likely to be overwhelmingly negative – major impacts that will probably ramify upwards through marine food chains to apex predators, and be accompanied by the widespread extinction of some ocean species (especially benthic plankton).

Ocean acidification could trigger a chain reaction of impacts through the marine food web, beginning with larval fish and shellfish, which are particularly vulnerable (EPOCA 2009)

Coral reefs will be placed under increasing threat as acidification progresses. If present emission rates continue it is thought that they will start to dissolve (ie calcium carbonate will be reabsorbed into solution) by 2050.

Because of major inertia in the system, the acidification process is essentially irreversible over any time frame meaningful to us (ie > 10,000 years). Likewise, even if we were to stop all CO2 emissions tomorrow, ocean pH would continue to drop for some time (at least decades) as it reached a new carbon equilibrium with the atmosphere.

Because acidification is independent of carbon dioxide’s effect as a greenhouse gas, geo-engineering strategies that aim to cool the planet without removing atmospheric CO2 will have no effect on ocean acidification. Approaches to offset acidification (such as the application of crushed limestone to the oceans) would need to be at such massive scales that they would be prohibitively expensive (both economically and environmentally).

The only real way to fix this problem is to stop emitting carbon dioxide.

Acidification will have impacts on key Australian marine ecosystems such as those of the Southern Ocean, marine protected areas on the southern margins of the Australian continent (the Great Australian Bight and Tasmanian seamounts) and, eventually the Great Barrier Reef (ACE-CRC 2008)

Now take action.

• We don’t have long to change things around.
• Ocean acidification is already making the calcified parts of some sea creatures thinner and lighter. It is happening right now, independent of global warming.
• Coral reefs are going to start disappearing by 2050 at the latest.
• Acidification has the same solution as global warming – rapid emissions reduction.
• Due to the long lag-times in the system, the quicker we reduce carbon dioxide emissions, the more effect it will have in the future.

Here’s what you can do – Tell someone about this problem. Do something today!!!Visit my ocean acidification resources page for videos and links to major learned reports on this topic. Watch this video:

Related posts:

1. Ocean Acidification: The REAL climate change threat?
2. More on Ocean Acidification
3. EPA: Clean Water Act could be used to slow ocean acidification

VIDEOS AND MOVIES
Acid Test – The Global Challenge of Ocean Acidification (movie with Sigourney Weaver). Website.

A Sea Change Feature Film trailer and website.

UK Environment Secretary Hilary Benn (14.12.2009) Oceans Day at COP-15.

Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, gives a demonstration during the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming Hearing, “The State of Climate Science” held on December 2, 2009. Parts 1 & 2.

Information on Bering Sea warming, coral bleaching and ocean acidification.

Ocean acidification – The big global warming story. Catalyst (Australian science show – 9:29 mins; 13.09.2007).

RADIO
Pacific warned of ocean acidification – ABC Radio Australia.

SCHOLARLY ARTICLES
Impacts of ocean acidification on marine fauna and ecosystem processes. Victoria J. Fabry, Brad A. Seibel, Richard A. Feely and James C. Orr. ICES Journal of Marine Science 2008; 65: 414–432.

PUBLICATIONS

Position Analysis – Australian ocean impacts of carbon dioxide emissions.

Briefing document on European impacts of ocean acidification

Ocean Acidification Summary for Policymakers 2009.

Ocean Acidification – The Facts (2009).

Future Oceans – Warming Up, Rising High, Turning Sour

Pew Center Brief on Ocean Acidification (2009)

Royal Society Report on Ocean Acidification

Impacts of Ocean Acidification on Coral Reefs and Other Marine Calcifiers

WEBSITES
OZCoasts – Australian website with good info and links.

Ocean Acidification – Official EPOCA site.

LINKS PAGES
Wikipedia Ocean Acidification Article (with EXTENSIVE scientific citations and external links)

The Science Behind ACID TEST: The Movie.

NOAA Ocean Acidification Site (links at bottom)

MEETINGS & SYMPOSIA
The Ocean In A High CO2 World (2004)

ORGANISATIONS
European Project on Ocean Acidification (EPOCA)

Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership (MCCIP – UK)

NOAA Ocean Acidification Site

NEWS
Whatever The Warming, Ocean Acidifies From Carbon-dioxide Buildup
ScienceDaily (2007-03-27) — A new study indicates that future changes in ocean acidification caused by atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions are largely independent of the amount of climate change caused by those emissions.

Ocean Acidification And Its Impact On Ecosystems
ScienceDaily (2008-05-29) — Emissions of carbon dioxide through human activities have a well known impact on the Earth’s climate. What is not so well known is that the absorption of this carbon dioxide by the oceans is causing inexorable acidification of sea water. But what impact is this phenomenon having on marine organisms and ecosystems?

Acidifying Oceans Add Urgency To Carbon Dioxide Cuts
ScienceDaily (2008-07-06) — It’s not just about climate change anymore. Besides loading the atmosphere with heat-trapping greenhouse gases, human emissions of carbon dioxide have also begun to alter the chemistry of the ocean. The ecological and economic consequences are difficult to predict but possibly calamitous, warn a team of chemical oceanographers, and halting the changes already underway will likely require even steeper cuts in carbon emissions than those currently proposed to curb climate change.

Global Scientists Draw Attention To Threat Of Ocean Acidification
ScienceDaily (2009-02-05) — More than 150 leading marine scientists from 26 countries are calling for immediate action by policy-makers to sharply reduce carbon dioxide emissions so as to avoid widespread and severe damage to marine ecosystems from ocean acidification.

Carbon Sinks Losing The Battle With Rising Emissions
ScienceDaily (2009-03-21) — The stabilizing influence that land and ocean carbon sinks have on rising carbon emissions is gradually weakening, scientists who attended the international Copenhagen Climate Change Conference.

Coral Reefs Exposed To Imminent Destruction From Climate Change
ScienceDaily (2009-07-16) — Leading ocean scientists and climate change experts agreed on a new level of atmospheric carbon dioxide that would need to be achieved to ensure the survival of coral reefs.

Ocean Acidification: Impact On Key Organisms Of Oceanic Fauna May Be Worse Than Predicted
ScienceDaily (2009-09-17) — In addition to global warming, carbon dioxide emissions cause another, less well-known but equally serious and worrying phenomenon: ocean acidification. Researchers have just demonstrated that key marine organisms, such as deep-water corals and pteropods (shelled pelagic mollusks) will be profoundly affected by this phenomenon during the years to come.

Increased Ocean Acidification In Alaska Waters, New Findings Show
ScienceDaily (2009-08-14) — The same things that make Alaska’s marine waters among the most productive in the world may also make them the most vulnerable to ocean acidification. According to new findings, Alaska’s oceans are becoming increasingly acidic, which could damage Alaska’s king crab and salmon fisheries.

Acidic oceans threaten marine life. Brisbane Times December 2009.

Related posts:

1. More on Ocean Acidification
2. Ocean Acidification: The REAL climate change threat?
3. Ocean Acidification – Major Report

More on ocean acidification and climate change. I actually think that this issue will shortly overtake global warming as the focus of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Why do I say that?

Because it’s happening rapidly, has definite and measurable ecological and economic effects, and is harder for the climate change deniers to disprove (although I’m sure that they’ll try and think of something!).

Watch this space – Remember you heard it here first!!!

Polar bears increasingly endangered by the Arctic impacts of climate change

Arctic seas turn to acid putting vital food chain at risk

Carbon-dioxide emissions are turning the waters of the Arctic Ocean into acid at an unprecedented rate, scientists have discovered. Research carried out in the archipelago of Svalbard has shown in many regions around the north pole seawater is likely to reach corrosive levels within 10 years. The water will then start to dissolve the shells of mussels and other shellfish and cause major disruption to the food chain. By the end of the century, the entire Arctic Ocean will be corrosively acidic.

Oceans May Soon Be More Corrosive Than When The Dinosaurs Died

Increased carbon dioxide emissions are rapidly acidifying the world’s oceans and, if unabated, could cause a mass extinction of marine life similar to one that occurred when the dinosaurs disappeared. By comparing computer model predictions of changes in ocean chemistry with evidence from the fossil record, researchers have found a glimpse of the possible future for ocean life if society does not drastically curb carbon dioxide emissions.

Ocean Becoming More Acidic, Potentially Threatening Marine Life

A dramatic increase in carbon dioxide levels is making the world’s ocean more acidic, which may adversely affect the survival of marine life and organisms that depend on them, such as humans.

Corals And Climate Change

A modest new lab at the Rosenstiel School is the first of its kind to tackle the global problem of climate change impacts on corals. Fully operational this month, this new lab has begun to study how corals respond to the combined stress of greenhouse warming and ocean acidification. The lab is the first to maintain corals under precisely controlled temperature and carbon dioxide conditions while exposing them to natural light conditions.

Related posts:

1. Ocean Acidification: The REAL climate change threat?
2. Ocean Acidification – Major Report
3. EPA: Clean Water Act could be used to slow ocean acidification

Ocean acidification has emerged as an extreme threat to marine ecosystems and fisheries – it may be the real threat from climate change, ready to blind-side us in just a few decades.

Why do I say that?

Our oceans have absorbed around one-third of the CO2 emitted so far. This (along with heat-absorption from the atmosphere) has had a moderating effect on temperature increases measured so far – climate change to date could have been worse than it is.

An unexpected problem has emerged, however.

When carbon dioxide dissolves in seawater it forms a weak acid (carbonic acid) – as CO2 has accumulated in oceans around the world, they have slowly but surely become more acidic (so far about one-tenth of one pH unit). Although the increase in acidity to date doesn’t seem like much, it is already having measurable biological and physical effects.

The main issue relates to the hardening (or calcification) of marine shells. Shell-forming organisms need a fairly narrow pH range to allow them to get calcium out of solution in seawater and deposit it in their shells.

But as the water becomes more acidic, shell calcification decreases, and at some point actually begins to reverse, causing shells and related structures (like coral reefs) to start dissolving – one study estimates that ALL coral reefs may cease to grow and start to dissolve when atmospheric CO2 reaches 560ppm. It is also likely that most regions will be inhospitable to coral reefs by 2050 (including Australia’s Great Barrier Reef).

This issue does not just affect oceans.

It affects all of us because it will cause major changes to marine food chains.

And if ocean ecosystems collapse, what happens to us?

Ocean acidification due to climate change

Further Reading

Acid In The Oceans: A Growing Threat To Sea Life

Can Corals Survive In A Warming World?

An ocean of poison

Report Warns about Carbon Dioxide Threats to Marine Life – download a PDF of “Impacts of Ocean Acidification on Coral Reefs and Other Marine Calcifiers.”

Ocean acidification: the other CO₂ problem

Related posts:

1. EPA: Clean Water Act could be used to slow ocean acidification
2. Ocean Acidification – Major Report
3. Climate Change Threatens Australia’s Great Barrier Reef

According to an online report from The Sydney Morning Herald, climate change-related damage to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef will cost us some $37.5 billion during this century.

If greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced globally, the Great Barrier Reef is expected to be one of the first of Australia’s World Heritage sites seriously damaged. But chairman of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation Dr John Schubert warned that with climate change happening much faster than predicted, Australia must plan to ”adapt” the reef to save it from some level of damage scientists say is inevitable.

According to the article:

”There needs to be extra emphasis on the adaptation side,” said Dr Schubert, who is also the outgoing chairman of the Commonwealth Bank and sits on the board of BHP-Billiton and Qantas. He said the report by Oxford Economics was a conservative assessment of the losses if the reef was damaged by permanent bleaching.

Anemone Fish - Great Barrier Reef

Bleaching (due to higher water temperatures) is not the only threat facing coral reefs. With atmospheric CO2 levels rising fast, ocean acidification is fast becoming THE major threat to all marine ecosystems.

The oceans absorb a lot of the CO2 emitted by human activities. When it dissolves in seawater it forms carbonic acid – this makes the oceans more acidic.

Shell-forming sea creatures (including coral polyps) can only deposit calcium in their shells when pH is between a certain critical range (see diagram).And if they can’t harden their shells they can’t survive, or form coral reefs for that matter.

As the oceans become more acidic, it is likely that large areas will become less hospitable to marine life – this will damage ocean food webs significantly as many crustaceans (and related species) are food for fish and other animals higher up the food chain.

More about ocen acidification coming soon…

Related posts:

1. Ocean Acidification: The REAL climate change threat?
2. Ocean Acidification – Major Report
3. More Evidence on Ocean Acidification