Ocean Acidification Threatens Marine Life
The Art
The Science
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, Nina Bednarsek. This figure appears in chapter 1 of the Climate Change Impacts in the United States: The Third National Climate Assessment report.What’s Alarming
“About a quarter of carbon dioxide (CO2) released by human activities is taken up by the ocean …. This dissolves in surface water to form carbonic acid, which, upon dissociation, causes a decrease in pH (acidification) and carbonate ion (CO32–) concentration. This can affect organisms that form shells and skeletons using calcium carbonate (CaCO3, aragonite and calcite as dominant mineral forms). …3.2.1.2.4*
…Both polar oceans will be increasingly affected by CO2 uptake, causing conditions corrosive for calcium carbonate shell-producing organisms …, with associated impacts on marine organisms and ecosystems (medium confidence).” *
Ocean acidity has increased by 30% over the last 250 years due to absorption of emitted CO2. Marine species such as coral, mollusks, shellfish and plankton are put at risk by the increasing acidification and warming of their habitat. Over 50 million people worldwide rely on fish as a vital source of protein and some areas have seen fish populations decline by as much as 35% during the period 1930 to 2010.**
*Meredith, M., M. Sommerkorn, S. Cassotta, C. Derksen, A. Ekaykin, A. Hollowed, G. Kofinas, A. Mackintosh, J. Melbourne-Thomas, M.M.C. Muelbert, G. Ottersen, H. Pritchard, and E.A.G. Schuur, 2019: Polar Regions. In: IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate [H.-O. Pörtner, D.C. Roberts, V. Masson-Delmotte, P. Zhai, M. Tignor, E. Poloczanska, K. Mintenbeck, A. Alegría, M. Nicolai, A. Okem, J. Petzold, B. Rama, N.M. Weyer (eds.)]. In press.
**Seafood Supplies Diminishing as Oceans Warm, Study Finds, New York Times, Marc 3, 2019
