5-9 July 2010
Section: OS – Ocean Science
Session title: Ocean Acidification: research advances and methodologies
Main convener: Prof. kunshan Gao (Xiamen Univ., China)
Co-conveners: Prof. K Lee (POSTEC, Korea, South), Prof. Minhan Dai (Xiamen University, China)
Session Description:
Since the Industrial Revolution, the acidity of ocean water has been increased by 30%; and the acidification is expected on a steep upward trajectory in the next decade, representing the highest ever in the past 55 million years. The acidity would likely be increased by 120% in 2060. Ocean acidification would lead to changes on chemical, physical and biological processes in the oceans. Although some ecological impacts of ocean acidification on marine calcifiers have been examined, the scientific community can still not anticipate what it would bring to human beings and the Earth systems in future.
Researches on ocean acidification have been carried out in most of countries in the world. The EU FP7 Integrated Project EPOCA (European Project on Ocean Acidification) consortium brings together more than 100 researchers from 27 institutes and 9 European countries; British government just launched 11.8 million pound research project “Responses of Marine Ecosystems to Ocean Acidification” this year; The national research program on ocean acidification “Biological Impacts of Ocean Acidification (BIOACID)” has been funded with 8.5 million Euros by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research; The Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring Act of 2009 (FOARAM Act of 2009) was signed into law by United States President Obama in March, planning to establish an ocean acidification program within NOAA, and an interagency committee tasked with coordinating ocean acidification activities.
The major goals of this session is to promote ocean acidification researches in Asia; to discuss marine scientific issues coupled with global changes; to understand the impacts of ocean acidification on ecosystems and to encourage interdisciplinary researches. Three issues would be discussed in this session: 1) current progresses in researches of Ocean Acidification; 2) biological, chemical and physical processes in the oceans related to OA; 3) marine carbonate system’s control method and technology. This session will enhance interdisciplinary researches via the integration of theories and methodologies in both micro- and macro- studies.
Asia Oceania Geosciences Society. More information.
