Ocean Acidification

BACKGROUND
The Catlin Arctic Surveys undertake research into the changing Arctic environment, especially sea-ice and its relation to ocean/atmospheric systems. They offer unique services of logistics, infrastructure and expertise (particularly the extreme Winter/Spring environment) with potential for explorer scientist collaborations, to advance scientific understanding of this region. They also facilitate development of inter-disciplinary collaborations within the international scientific community. The communication of the Surveys to the wider public, including the environmental imperatives underpinning them, forms an integral part of the project plan.

So far, two Surveys have been undertaken. Further information about the 2010 Survey, which predominantly investigated ocean acidification (with supporting sea ice dynamics research), can be found within the pages of this website.

Continue reading ‘Catlin Arctic Survey 2011 announcement of opportunity : UK’

The increasing amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere is acidifying the oceans. The resulting changes to ecosystems and marine biodiversity may have negative impacts on fisheries and food security and reduce the coastal protection provided by coral reefs. This POSTnote outlines the science behind ocean acidification and summarises the threats to the marine environment. A global reduction of carbon emissions is the only certain way to minimise these risks.
Continue reading ‘UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology on ocean acidification’

Closing date: 16:00 on 10 December 2009

Proposals are invited for a service of carbonate chemistry measurements as part of the UK Ocean Acidification Research Programme. This £12m collaborative programme is a Living With Environmental Change (LWEC) accredited programme and is co-funded by NERC, the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC).
Continue reading ‘Announcement of Opportunity for a carbonate chemistry facility’

FP7 Cooperation Work Programme 2010: Environment
Area 6.1.1.5 Climate change natural and socio-economic impacts
ENV.2010.1.1.5-1 Impact of ocean acidification in the Mediterranean in a changing climate

The Mediterranean Sea due to its enclosed geographical situation is especially vulnerable to climate change. The research will study the effects of ocean acidification, considering different climate change scenarios on the ecosystem structure/functioning of the Mediterranean Sea. The project should identify the most vulnerable elements of the ecosystem and map the regions which will be most affected by ocean acidification. The research will study the socio-economic implication of ocean acidification and will identify possible adaptation measures. International cooperation is encouraged.
Continue reading ‘ENV.2010.1.1.5-1 Impact of ocean acidification in the Mediterranean in a changing climate’

The Natural Environment Research Council and the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs are developing a collaborative 5 year research programme of approximately £12m. The drivers and rationale for the programme are detailed in the NERC Earth System Science Theme Action Plan.

The research programme will focus on the North-East Atlantic (including European shelf and slope), Antarctic and Arctic Oceans and aim to deliver the following seven main science outputs:

1. Improve estimates of ocean CO2 uptake and associated acidification.
2. Evaluate the impact of acidification on ocean biogeochemical processes.
3. Identify and improve understanding of the potential impacts and implications of acidification on key ecosystems, communities, habitats, and species, focussing on the continental shelf and slope.
4. Improve the understanding of the potential population, community and ecosystem impacts and implications for commercially important species.
5. Provide evidence from the paleo-record of past changes in ocean acidity and resultant changes in marine species composition and Earth System function.
6. Identify and understand the indirect impacts of decreasing pH on atmospheric chemistry and the climate system.
7. Improve the understanding of the cumulative or synergistic effects of Ocean Acidification on ecosystem structure and function with other global change pressures.

A call for proposals is expected to be announced in April – May 2009, when further details will be provided. The deadline for proposal submission would be about 8 weeks after the call. It is anticipated that funded proposals would start in late 2009, early 2010.
Continue reading ‘UK ocean acidification programme’

“Ocean acidification is a high priority research topic identified by OCB. The far-reaching effects of ocean acidification on marine biogeochemical cycles and biology, combined with the increasing interest in the topic both nationally and internationally, prompted the OCB-SSC to recommend the formation of an Ocean Acidification Subcommittee. With approval from the OCB-SSC, the Ocean Acidification subcommittee members were invited from the U.S. community of researchers to cover the spectrum of topics relevant to ocean acidification.
Continue reading ‘The “Ocean Carbon Biogeochemistry” program has established an “Ocean Acidification Subcommittee”’

Dear Colleagues:

The Ocean Studies Board of the National Research Council is soliciting nominations of individuals to serve on its Committee on the Development of an Integrated Science Strategy for Ocean Acidification Monitoring, Research, and Impacts Assessment. The committee’s full statement of task is in the attached document; in summary, the study will examine the anticipated consequences of ocean acidification due to rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels on fisheries, protected species, coral reefs, and other natural resources in the United States and internationally. The committee will recommend priorities for a national research, monitoring, and assessment plan to advance understanding of the biogeochemistry of carbon dioxide uptake in the ocean and the relationship to atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide, and to reduce uncertainties in projections of increasing ocean acidification and the potential effects on living marine resources and ocean ecosystems.
Continue reading ‘Committee on the Development of an Integrated Science Strategy for Ocean Acidification Monitoring, Research, and Impacts Assessment’

A bill on ocean acidification (S. 1581) has been introduced in the US senate. It seeks to launch a major research initiative in the field of ocean acidification, with a requested funding of 30 millions US$ per year for 2008-2012 and possibly beyond.

The bill can be downloaded, and its legislative path tracked, here.

As the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases, the oceans become more acidic. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has already developed a 5- year interdisciplinary program on ocean acidification, which includes establishing coral reef monitoring stations, research on the physiological responses of various organisms to increasing ocean acidity, modeling of ocean acidification and its socioeconomic effect, and development of technology for measuring and monitoring carbon dioxide in the oceans.

NOAA’s Science Advisory Board (SAB) is considering whether the agency’s plans are appropriate for addressing the requirements of both science and national policy and whether NOAA should be the lead agency in this area of research.

At the SAB’s 6 March meeting, Richard Feely, an oceanographer at NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, updated Board members on the current state of knowledge on ocean acidification. “Ocean acidification is one of the most serious threats to the world’s ocean ecosystems aris- ing from carbon dioxide emissions,” he said.

Under current carbon dioxide scenarios, by the end of the century the world’s oceans could be unable to maintain current rates of calcification, according to Feely. Populations of many species at the bottom of the food chain that rely on calcification, such as coccolithophores, foraminifera, and pteropods, could be devastated by these changes to ocean acidity. In that fish larvae are very sensitive to changes in carbon dioxide in the ocean, Feely said. Changes in the food chain or larvae survival rates could affect fisheries, such as the Pacific salmon fishery.

Congress requested, in its 2006 renewal of the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, that the U.S. National Research Council (NRC) conduct a study on ocean acidification and how this process affects the United States. However, before the study can begin, NOAA needs to develop a statement of task describing what it would like the committee to focus on and needs to find funds for the study.

John Snow, dean of the College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, said that there are several areas where the SAB could provide advice to NOAA about its involvement in ocean acidification research, such as helping to design the statement of task for the NRC committee. In addition, Snow, an SAB member, said the Board could recommend that NOAA develop an observing system for ocean acidification and that NOAA work with other U.S. agencies or international partners in this research.

Eos, 88(11):133, 13 March 2007. Journal web site.