Ocean Acidification

SOLAS and IMBER have launched, in September 2009, a working group on Ocean Acidification. It is sub-group 3 of the IMBER/SOLAS Carbon Research Working Group (SIC!).

The tasks of this group are:

1. Coordinate international research efforts in ocean acidification
2. Undertake synthesis activities in ocean acidification at the international level

Continue reading ‘SOLAS-IMBER Ocean Acidification working group just launched’

“Geoengineering” experiments proposed to reduce global warming by blocking sunlight with atmosphere-injected particles may cool the world but still leave carbon dioxide levels dangerously high, Stanford scientists say.

Sunlight-blocking particles would fail to solve the problems of ocean acidification and dying corals, two significant repercussions of climate change, according to a study by Ken Caldeira of Stanford University and the Carnegie Institution, Damon Matthews of Concordia University, and Long Cao of the Carnegie Institution. Atmospheric carbon dioxide dissolves in ocean water, making it more acidic and difficult for animals to build their shells or skeletons, especially corals.
Continue reading ‘Global warming tactic cools climate but won’t help corals, say Stanford researchers’

If you are interested in commenting on the first draft, then please download the document (here) particularly focussing on points 4-6 and returning to Heather Benway by 7th June 2009.

More information on Solas web site.

IOC, SCOR, IGBP and IAEA have recently produced a number of documents about the latest knowledge on Ocean Acidification and priorities for future research, as a result of the Second Symposium on the Ocean in a High-CO2 World in October 2008. The publications are all available on the following website and involve a large number of international experts.
Continue reading ‘Documents about the latest knowledge on Ocean Acidification’

The Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry Program Ocean Acidification Subcommittee is currently discussing how to coordinate and provide input to the recent EPA federal register notice on ocean acidification. If you would like to be involved, please contact OCB Ocean Acidification Subcommittee co-chairs Joan Kleypas (kleypas@ucar.edu) and Richard Feely (richard.a.feely@noaa.gov).

Continue reading ‘OCB Ocean Acidification Subcommittee coordinates input to EPA Federal register notice on ocean acidification’

Environmental Protection Agency

DOCUMENT ACTION: Notice of data availability (NODA).

DOCUMENT SUMMARY:

This NODA provides interested parties with information submitted to EPA on ocean acidification and solicits additional pertinent data or information that may be useful in addressing this issue. In addition, EPA is notifying the public of its intent to review the current aquatic life criterion for marine pH to determine if a revision is warranted to protect the marine designated uses of States and Territories pursuant to Section 304(a)(1) of the Clean Water Act. The NODA also solicits additional scientific information and data, as well as ideas for effective strategies for Federal, State, and local officials to address the impacts of ocean acidification. This information can then be used as the basis for a broader discussion of ocean acidification and marine impacts. EPA also requests information pertaining to monitoring marine pH and implementation of pH water quality standards.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before June 15, 2009.

Continue reading ‘Federal Register notice: Ocean acidification and marine pH water quality criteria’

Following its success in the field of science, the European Project on Ocean Acidification (EPOCA) has expanded its activities to also include the fashion industry. It has opened its first retail shop in Shanghai (photograph above, courtesy of Markus Weinbauer). All profits generated by the first 6 months of operation will be distributed in cash to the participants of the EPOCA annual meeting which will be held in Plymouth, UK, from 30 June to 2 July. At the meeting, the project Scientific Steering Committee, advised by the International Scientific Advisory Panel, will decide on future shop openings.

Clay animation about the potentially disastrous rise in ocean acidity. Created by pupils from Ridgeway School Plymouth, Sundog Media, and Dr Carol Turley of Plymouth Marine Laboratory. Commissioned by EPOCA [European Project on OCean Acidification]; supported by UCP Marjon, and National Marine Aquarium.
Continue reading ‘The other CO2 problem movie’

The Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring (FOARAM) Act passed in the House of Representatives and Senate respectively on 3rd and 19th March 2009.
Continue reading ‘The Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring (FOARAM) Act’

Interview with Jean-Pierre Gattuso on ocean acidification.

rfi, L’acidification des oceans, c’est pas du vent, 9 February 2009.

More than 150 scientists from 26 countries are calling for immediate action by policymakers to reduce CO2 emissions sharply to avoid possible widespread and severe damage to marine ecosystems from ocean acidification. This warning comes in The Monaco Declaration and the Research Priorities Report developed at the 2nd international symposium on The Ocean in a High-CO2 World, to be released during a press conference on Friday, 30 January, at the ASLO Aquatic Sciences Conference in Nice.

Continue reading ‘The Monaco Declaration and research priorities report released 30 January at ASLO’

Under embargo until 10.30 am (GMT), Friday 30 January

Paris, 29 January – More than 150 leading marine scientists from 26 countries are calling for immediate action by policymakers to reduce CO2 emissions sharply so as to avoid widespread and severe damage to marine ecosystems from ocean acidification. They issued this warning in the Monaco Declaration, released on 30 January.

The scientists note that ocean acidification is already detectable, that it is accelerating. They caution that its negative socio-economic impacts can only be avoided by limiting future atmospheric CO2 levels.

Prince Albert II of Monaco has urged political leaders to heed the Monaco Declaration as they prepare for climate negotiations at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this year. “I strongly support this declaration, which is in full accord with my efforts and those of my Foundation to alleviate climate change,” he said.

The Monaco Declaration is based on the Research Priorities Report developed by participants at last October’s 2nd international symposium on The Ocean in a High-CO2 World, organized by UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the International Geosphere Biosphere Programme (IGBP), with the support of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation and several other partners.
Continue reading ‘Leading scientists from all over the world call for immediate action to stop ocean acidification’

The Senate is close to approving bill S.22 (Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009) which includes “Subtitle D: Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring Act of 2009”.

Continue reading ‘Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring Act of 2009’

Continue reading ‘Hard core data shows 14 per cent drop in coral growth on GBR since 1990’

Size measurements of the calcareous nannofossil taxon Discoaster multiradiatus were carried out across the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) in Ocean Drilling Program Holes 690B (Maud Rise, Weddell Sea) and 1209B (Shatsky Rise, Pacific Ocean). Morphometric investigations show that D. multiradiatus specimens are generally larger at ODP Site 1209 than at ODP Site 690. A limited increase in size of D. multiradiatus is recorded at ODP Site 1209, whereas significant enlargements characterize ODP Site 690. Preservation is comparable at both sites: nannofossils are moderately preserved with some evidence of etching/overgrowth in the PETM interval. Yet, D. multiradiatus variations do not correlate with preservation state and morphometric data most likely represent primary signals rather than diagenetic artifacts. There is a direct relationship between D. multiradiatus size and paleotemperatures: largest specimens are coeval with global warming associated with the PETM, inferred to result from excess atmospheric CO2 due to (partial) oxidation of massive quantities of methane. Size increases and largest specimens of D. multiradiatus occur at different stratigraphic levels within PETM at ODP Sites 690 and 1209. A marked shift in diameter size was observed at the onset and peak of the Carbon Isotopic Excursion (CIE) at ODP Site 690, but only at the end of CIE and initial recovery interval at ODP Site 1209. This diachroneity is puzzling, but indeed correlates well with reconstructed changes in surface and thermocline water masses temperature and salinity in the PETM interval at low and high latitudes. The presumed high concentrations of carbon dioxide seem to have not influenced the morphometry of D. multiradiatus. The major size increase of D. multiradiatus in the CIE of ODP Site 690 could represent the migration of larger-sized allochtonus specimens that moved from peri-equatorial/subtropical areas to higher latitudes during the warmest interval of the PETM, although no direct evidence of distinct populations/subpopulations has been obtained from the frequency diagrams. As a result, we infer that D. multiradiatus is a proxy of water masses stratification and might be used for deriving temperature–salinity–nutrient conditions in the mixed layer and thermocline and their dynamics.
Continue reading ‘Size variations of the calcareous nannofossil taxon Discoaster multiradiatus (Incertae sedis) across the Paleocene–Eocene thermal maximum in ocean drilling program holes 690B and 1209B’

Reef-building corals may be more resilient against climate change than previously thought and some species are able to survive an increase in seawater acidity, even though it strips the individual coral polyps of their protective calcium carbonate skeletons, a new study by an Israeli zoologist has revealed.

Dailyindia.com, 30 March 2007. Article.