Ocean Acidification

On behalf of the SOLAS-IMBeR Ocean Acidification working group (SIOA), we are asking for your help in gathering information regarding the next “Ocean in a High CO₂ World Symposium.”

The International Symposium on the Ocean in a High CO₂ World was first initiated in 2004 in Paris, France and held every 4 years until its 5^th edition organized in Lima, Peru in 2022 (https://www.highco2-lima.org/). It gathers hundreds of researchers, students, and government and industry representatives with a common interest in ocean acidification and its impacts. It has been a pre-eminent forum for sharing the latest scientific findings in the field, and affords attendees opportunities to network, create new collaborations, and share knowledge with developing countries.

We have prepared a survey to evaluate the needs for a 6^th edition as well as its format. It takes between 5 and 10 minutes to fill out. You can find the survey at: https://forms.gle/wRdtCC9GL8xi7Umv6

Deadline for submission: March 15, 2023

Many thanks for your help and contribution,

Sam Dupont & Sarah Flickinger

The UN Decade program “Ocean Acidification Research for Sustainability” (OARS) is organizing a session on “Ocean Acidification 2.0 – From Chemistry to Society” at the next ASLO meeting in Palma de Mallorca (4-9 June 2023).  Consider submitting an abstract by February 23rd!

This session aims at providing a platform for the ocean acidification community together with those who have a shared interest of protecting and conserving biodiversity in the face of global changes. It will promote actions to address the need for broader, more diverse, inclusive, and interdisciplinary collaboration and co-design of science and action. There is a need for purposeful efforts to facilitate inclusion of all interested researchers in monitoring and ocean acidification research networks. We encourage submission of poster and presentation focusing on, for instance, co-design approach, new experimental designs encompassing the chemical and biological complexity (e.g. natural variability, ecology, evolution, multiple stressors), syntheses and meta-analyses, and unification of chemical and biological observations (see below for a full description of the session).

You can submit your abstract for the session “SS066 Ocean Acidification 2.0 – From Chemistry to Society” before February 23^rd at: https://www.aslo.org/palma-2023/abstract-preparation-guide/

For any questions, contact: sam.dupont@bioenv.gu.se

SS066 Ocean Acidification 2.0 – From Chemistry to Society

Sam Dupont, University of Gothenburg (sam.dupont@bioenv.gu.se)
Iris Hendriks, IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB) (iris@imedea.uib-csic.es)
Jan Newton, University of Washington (janewton@uw.edu)

Ocean acidification has gained increasing recognition across national and international policy frameworks, such as national ocean action plans, the 2030 Agenda and the UNFCCC. To fully address and minimize its effects, scientists, governments, and end-users will benefit from co-designing science, monitoring, research, and syntheses that support informed choices about national mitigation, adaptation, and preparedness strategies. An overwhelming body of evidence documents ocean acidification, with potential significant impacts on marine species and ecosystems. The increase of atmospheric CO₂ due to fossil fuel burning is the main driver of ocean acidification in the open ocean. In the coastal zone, the variability in pCO₂ and pH is also driven by biological, near-shore and land-based processes, such as river run-off, stratification, and tides. The complexity of bridging chemical and biological changes associated with ocean acidification is often under-estimated. Today, projections rely mainly on proxy variables like pH, carbonate saturation states, dissolved oxygen, temperature, and salinity, and simplistic thresholds to speculate about the status and trends of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Ecosystem response to ocean acidification can be only assessed when considering factors such as adaptation to local chemical variability, evolutionary processes, ecological interactions, and the modulating role of other environmental drivers or stressors. Therefore, global, regional, and local impacts on biology and ecology, whether gradual or stepwise, are not fully resolved. Experimental work often over-simplifies these processes, for instance by focusing on single species and stressors, short-term responses, and static conditions that do not incorporate natural variability. Ocean observing and data are often focused on one or a handful of physical and biogeochemical parameters, but generally do not include biology and ecosystem. On the other hand, results from experimental work and from in situ observing efforts are not always well integrated into synthesis and modeling efforts. As a consequence, although data are being generated about ocean acidification changes and separately about some ecological changes, we are not able to evaluate whether a local resource or ecosystem service is changing due to ocean acidification. The UN Decade program “Ocean Acidification Research for Sustainability” (OARS) aims to provide a road map to fill these gaps. In line with the vision of OARS, this session aims at providing a platform for the ocean acidification community together with those who have a shared interest of protecting and conserving biodiversity in the face of global changes. It will promote actions to address the need for broader, more diverse, inclusive, and interdisciplinary collaboration and co-design of science and action. There is a need for purposeful efforts to facilitate inclusion of all interested researchers in monitoring and ocean acidification research networks. We will encourage submission of poster and presentation focusing on, for instance, co-design approach, new experimental designs encompassing the chemical and biological complexity (e.g. natural variability, ecology, evolution, multiple stressors), syntheses and meta-analyses, and unification of chemical and biological observations.

Most people associate hurricanes with high winds, intense rain and rapid flooding on land. But these storms can also change the chemistry of coastal waters. Such shifts are less visible than damage on land, but they can have dire consequences for marine life and coastal ocean ecosystems.

We are oceanographers who study the effects of ocean acidification, including on organisms like oysters and corals. In a recent study, we examined how stormwater runoff from Hurricane Harvey in 2017 affected the water chemistry of Galveston Bay and the health of the bay’s oyster reefs. We wanted to understand how extreme rainfall and runoff from hurricanes influenced acidification of bay waters, and how long these changes could last.

Our findings were startling. Hurricane Harvey, which generated massive rainfall in the Houston metropolitan area, delivered a huge pulse of fresh water into Galveston Bay. As a result, the bay was two to four times more acidic than normal for at least three weeks after the storm.

This made bay water corrosive enough to damage oyster shells in the estuary. Because oyster growth and recovery rely on many factors, it is hard to tie specific changes to acidification. However, increased acidification certainly would have made it harder for oyster reefs damaged by Hurricane Harvey to recover. And while our study focused on Galveston Bay, we suspect that similar processes may be occurring in other coastal areas.

Continue reading Hurricane Harvey more than doubled the acidity of Texas’ Galveston Bay, threatening oyster reefs