Off the coast of Long Island, climate change and pollution are making local waters more acidic.
This is from a process known as Coastal Ocean Acidification where carbon dioxide and land-based pollution lower the water’s ph. The problem can also worsen when algal blooms or fast-growing algae feed on that pollution. With lower pH levels, species like clams and phytoplankton have trouble forming their shells.
Christopher Gobler, a professor at Stony Brook’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences explains. “That carbonate that they use to make their shell, becomes less abundant. And so almost like a linear relationship. So it goes down and the carbonate concentrations go down with it. And that makes calcifying a challenge,” he said.
The process or synergy shows how climate change, algal blooms, and local pollution, when combined, can affect our waters to this level. “That’s one of the . . . unintended or unanticipated outcome sometimes, of all these processes. And . . . it’s one of the things that makes climate change less predictable than we would like,” Gobler said.
Anjolique Powell, WLIW-FM, 10 November 2025. Article.
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