Ocean Acidification

Photo credit: NOAA

In mid July, two autonomous vehicles resembling small sailboats set off from Dutch Harbor in an effort to help scientists better understand ocean acidification in the Bering Sea and Arctic waters.  Known as Saildrones, the vehicles are about the size of a Hobie Cat sailboat and are capable of traveling unsupported for thousands of miles using only wind and solar energy.  In the past few years, NOAA scientists have conducted pilot work using the Saildrones in the Bering Sea, however this is the first year a Saildrone will be actively collecting ocean acidification parameters and sailing into the Arctic ocean.

Jessica Cross, an oceanographer with NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Lab, is a principal investigator on the project. Cross notes, “The Saildrones are a really important asset for Arctic surveys. They can reach farther and carry more sensors than ever before, and most important—they are fast and flexible!” The Saildrones can access newly emerging features on short notice, adding a lot of adaptability to current research tactics.

Continue reading ‘Two Saildrones collecting OA data are on their way to the Bering Strait’

KEY WEST, FL – USF College of Marine Science students Jon Sharp, Katelyn Schockman, and Ellie Hudson-Heck from the Byrne Lab, along with Eckerd College intern Courtney Tierney, are currently sailing aboard NOAA’s R/V Ronald H. Brown on the 2017 Gulf of Mexico Ecosystems and Carbon Cycle Cruise (GOMECC-3). The Brown departed Key West, Florida on July 18, 2017 and will return to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on August 21, 2017, after a full loop around the Gulf of Mexico.

This is the most comprehensive ocean acidification cruise in this region to date, and the first of its kind to explore Mexican waters. Jon, Katelyn, Ellie, and Courtney are measuring pH and carbonate ion concentrations in the Gulf. These data will be vital for evaluating the progression of ocean acidification across the basin and on regional scales, with a particular focus on coastal dynamics.

Continue reading ‘CMS students on NOAA ocean acidification cruise’

Photo credit: Chiara Lombardi (ENEA)

Putting plastic into the sea may seem a strange way to address climate change, but for one research team it could offer the chance to preserve marine life.

Experts have created a series of artificial reefs in the Mediterranean Sea that they hope will help to protect the underwater environment from further destruction. Researchers hope that synthetic coralline algae reefs will offer protection against ocean acidification, as well as providing a framework for natural reefs to grow on. They have only been in place for a month, but there are already positive signs that the project is working.

Dr Federica Ragazzola, a marine biologist at the University of Portsmouth, joined forces with an Italian government sponsored research and development agency for the project.

Coralline algae performs a similar ecological function to its more widely publicised namesake, corals, in the Mediterranean. They form reefs from calcium carbonate, the main chemical in chalk and antacid tablets, which provide shelter to a diverse range of marine life. But, like corals, they are also vulnerable to erosion from increasing levels of acidity.

Continue reading ‘Plastic reefs could offer a buffer to climate change and protect marine life from rising acid levels’

Photo credit: Matteo Nannini

Tiny, artificial algae are being deployed in the first such effort to restore reefs in the Mediterranean Sea.

They look like coralline algae, which have a similar ecological function to corals: forming reefs using calcium carbonate structures that create diverse and complex environments.

“Coralline algae are particularly ecologically important in shallow, temperate regions,” says Federica Ragazzola at the University of Portsmouth, UK. They are ecosystem engineers, providing habitats for numerous small invertebrates and shelter from physical stresses such as wave action, because coralline algae live in exposed areas.

However, as the reefs they build are made from a soluble form of calcium carbonate, they are vulnerable to an ongoing ocean acidification.

So Ragazzola partnered with researchers from the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA) to explore whether artificial coralline algae reefs can protect the organisms living on them against ocean acidification, as well as acting as scaffolds for natural coralline algae reefs to grow.

Continue reading ‘Rubber algae help create first artificial reef in Mediterranean’

The T-shirt changes colour to reflect pH water balance which is used as a physical representation of climate change.

Nature doesn’t have a voice. It has signifiers of change and environmental damage, but because they can’t be seen easily, they’re often overlooked or denied by even the highest positions of power.

To make this damage more visible, and show your support for the planet, there is now a T-shirt that lets you “wear climate change” on your sleeve. Designed to coincide with World Environment Day, chemically-reactive fashion brand The Unseen has partnered with The Lost Explorer to create a T-shirt that changes colour to reflect the pH balance of water. In particular, the cotton and hemp shirts, scoured in red cabbage, reflect the acidic and alkaline values found in local water.

Ocean acidification and acid raid are both products of climate change. The ocean absorbs much of the heat from excess CO2 in our atmosphere and, in the process, the chemical composition of seawater changes. When you mix carbon dioxide with water, it creates carbonic acid. The presence of carbonic acid kickstarts a process that lowers the pH of the ocean, making it more acidic. This has a dramatic effect on marine organisms, including oysters, clams, corals and plankton. When these organisms begin to dwindle, the whole marine ecosystem begins to shift.

Continue reading ‘Colour-changing T-shirts use cabbages to reveal the startling effects of climate change’

Research will provide 1st year-round record of CO₂ levels