a news stream provided by the Ocean Acidification International Coordination Center (OA-ICC)
Ketchikan, Alaska – Follow along as I tour the M/V Columbia with environmental technician Christen Harrington from the Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS). Harrington shoes us the testing apparatus set up several years ago to sample the ocean pH levels as the vessel goes about its itinerary.
Continue reading ‘Ocean acidification sampling project on the M/V Columbia (video)’
In the mid- to late 2000s, the marine science and policy community was grappling with a newly recognized threat to the ocean: the insidious changing of ocean chemistry due to the absorption of human produced carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. It was becoming clear that the influx of CO2, which results in a series of chemical reactions that makes sea water more acidic and reduces the availability of carbonate ions, posed a serious threat to marine calcifiers—such as corals and molluscs—which use carbonate ions to create their shells and skeletons. Many of the scientists, both within research institutions and civil society organizations, realized that was an issue that needed to be brought to the attention of policy-makers, and quickly. But, it was unclear how best to do that, especially given the ongoing politicization and highly partisan politics that characterized the US climate change discussions of the time.
Continue reading ‘Reframing ocean acidification in the context of the UNFCCC’
Picture this: you are visiting a tropical paradise known for their brightly colored coral reefs, unique aquatic life, and crystal-clear water. After diving into the water, the only emotion going through your head is a sense of feeling underwhelmed. The coral is all but colorful, the white ghostly skeletons of the coral covering the ocean floor.
This devastating change is called bleaching which is caused by ocean acidification.
Ocean acidification is the decrease in the pH of the ocean due to the absorption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. With the increasing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere through the continuously expanding emissions of fossil fuels, it is predicted that about 90% of all coral reef locations are going to experience severe bleaching by the year 2055. Scientists believe that dire actions need to be taken after receiving the results from this study, showing a bleak future for the coral reefs.
That equation sums the contributions from the simultaneous change (Δ) in each of the 4 input variables, with each Δ being multiplied by a partial derivative (sensitivity) so that each term on the right has same units as the total change term on the left.
If results don’t add up (i.e., the right side does not equal the left), there are three potential causes:
Continue reading ‘Easy exact sensitivities for ocean CO2 system’
Have you ever wanted to include the uncertainties along with your calculated marine CO2 system variables? Although a basic requirement for good science, the only way forward has been to code it yourself. Fortunately, it just got a lot easier.
Marine scientists who study the ocean CO2 system often use two of its measured or modeled variables to calculate the others, doing so with available public software packages. For instance, ocean pH is often calculated, not measured or modeled directly. But what about the uncertainties associated with those calculations? Unfortunately, they are seldom reported because none of the packages have provided an uncertainty propagation feature.
The few groups that have reported uncertainties have rolled their own, relying on different approaches, specifying different input uncertainties, and often assuming globally uniform sensitivities of calculated variables to input variables.
To allow such uncertainty propagation to become routine, the OA-ICC funded an effort to code a consistent set of tools in several public packages. Uncertainty propagation add-ons are now available for four of these packages: CO2SYS-Excel, CO2SYS-MATLAB, seacarb, and mocsy. Clicking on those links will lead you directly to the archive where each package can be downloaded, on CRAN for seacarb and on GitHub for the other 3 packages.
Antarctica possesses a current that circles the terra firma as segment of the Southern Ocean. The current is known as Antarctic Circumpolar Current. When the westerly winds reinforces in the time of the Southern Hemisphere’s summer waters south of the current acidify swiftly than can be considered for in CO2 from the atmosphere. The contradictory method can be witnessed north of the current.
In a recent study carried out it is observed that these influences are because of a merger of procedures propelled by these westerly winds. Comprehending the characteristics that dominate ocean acidification is vital for prophesying the influence the altering chemistry of the ocean will have on marine life form and ecosystems in the future. The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, is a crucial place to observe these techniques because of its immense capacity to reserve carbon dioxide from the atmosphere a decisive constituent of climate change.
Continue reading ‘Winds possess solution to climate change retraction’
© Milos Prelevic
There are few systems more complex—and more beautiful—than our natural ecosystems. Each element is like a Jenga piece—together, the pieces fit together perfectly, but when your tower begins to wobble, it can be hard to determine exactly where the critical weak points are. And just like a game of Jenga, we often have a hard time figuring out which piece will make the tower fall—or, in the case of an ecosystem, diagnosing exactly what drives ecosystem transformation. Thankfully, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Ocean Acidification Program and the NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science have recently teamed up to provide $3.5 million to four regional projects designed to look at this question that confounds resource management—is there a “tipping point” at which ecosystems change quickly due to specific factors, such as ocean acidification, warming and other progressive regional changes?
Darren Pilcher is a research scientist with NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Lab who is currently working on modeling OA in the Bering Sea.
Q: How did you get into the field of OA?
In graduate school, I studied the processes that determine the exchange of carbon between the water and the atmosphere. The oceans provide a critical service by taking up a portion of the carbon that we emit into the atmosphere, but unfortunately this process also results in ocean acidification. I was interested in understanding how this process will effect ocean ecosystems, particularly in high-latitude waters such as Alaska, where OA and climate change are occurring more rapidly.
Q: What kind of background to you need for the modeling work you do?
I was a chemistry major as an undergraduate, so you don’t necessarily need a computer science degree, however you do need a strong background in mathematics and physical science since this is the language that our computational models are written and operated in.
There are several sessions relevant to ocean acidification at the ESSAS Annual Science Meeting, Yokohama, Japan.
Dates: 7-9 March 2016
Yokohama World porters, Hall B, at Sakuragi-cho, Yokohama
Theme of meeting: “Scientific Challenges in a Changing Arctic & Subarctic”
The decline of biodiversity (the biomass, composition, and distribution of species) on Earth reflects the fact that the ability of Earth to sustain biodiversity in a dynamic environment has been seriously compromised by environmental stressors such as climate change and ocean acidification. Furthermore, the reduction of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean, which has progressed more rapidly than previously predicted, could exacerbate several environmental stresses, including ocean warming, acidification, and stratification. This meeting will focus on the observed and projected changes in the climate and marine environment of the Arctic and Subarctic and in the biological responses to these changes: How did the ancient climate and environment of the Arctic and its marginal subarctic regions change over time? How are the climate and environment of the subarctic and Arctic regions changing during the current Anthropocene? How do marine organisms in subarctic and polar regions respond to multiple environmental stressors? Active discussions will be encouraged to enhance our understanding of observed and anticipated changes and to explore how the natural sciences, humanities and socio-economic sciences can address and adapt to these challenges.
Continue reading ‘ESSAS Annual Science Meeting, Yokohama, Japan, 7-9 March 2016’
The Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR), Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) are convening the second symposium on The Ocean in a High-CO2 World on 6-8 October 2008 in Monaco. The purpose of the meeting is to provide an interdisciplinary forum to assess what is known about ocean acidification and priorities for future research. The symposium will include both invited and contributed presentations. The meeting organizers seek contributions on relevant topics, including the following:
– Scenarios of ocean acidification
– Effects of changes in seawater chemistry on nutrient and metal speciation
– Ocean carbon system from deep-time to the present to the distant future
– Paleo-chemistry
– Mechanisms of calcification
– Impacts on benthic and pelagic calcifiers
– Physiological effects: From microbes to fish
– Adaptation and (micro)evolution
– Fisheries, food webs, and ecosystem impacts
– Biogeochemical consequences and feedbacks to the Earth system
– Economic consequences
– CO2 disposal
The symposium will include plenary presentations, discussion sessions on research priorities, and a poster session. Because of time limitations, most contributed abstracts will be presented as posters. Manuscripts based on presentations at the symposium can be submitted to a special issue of Biogeosciences and research priorities will be published separately for the benefit of ocean scientists and research program managers worldwide. Relevant dates include:
31 March 2008: Early registration and abstract submissions open
31 May 2008: Abstract deadline
31 July 2008: Early registration closes
31 August 2008: Biogeosciences opens for submissions to special section on “The Ocean in a High CO2 World – II”
6-8 October 2008: The Second Symposium on The Ocean in a High-CO2 World
7 November 2008: Biogeosciences closes for submissions to special section
The Planning Committee is chaired by James Orr of the Marine Environment Laboratories (MEL-IAEA) in Monaco and includes the following members: Ken Caldeira (USA), Victoria Fabry (USA), André Freiwald (Germany), Jean-Pierre Gattuso (France), Peter Haugan (Norway), Patrick Lehodey (France), Silvio Pantoja (Chile), Hans-O. Pörtner (Germany), Ulf Riebesell (Germany), and Tom Trull (Australia).
For additional information, please contact James Orr (J.Orr@iaea.org) or one of the sponsors’ representatives: Ed Urban (Ed.Urban@scor-int.org), Maria Hood (m.hood”at”unesco.org), or Wendy Broadgate (wendy@igbp.kva.se).
Additional instructions for registration and abstract submission will be provided in early 2008, but please put the dates for this meeting on your calendar. A web site will soon be opened at: http://www.ocean-acidification.net/
