Ocean Acidification Resources Library
Articles providing a broad overview of what is known about ocean acidification.
Why do oceans matter for climate change?
Oceans are the planet's greatest carbon sink, absorbing up to 30 per cent of the human-caused greenhouse gas emissions fuelling the climate crisis. Photo of...
An ocean crisis in the making (video & text)
As the ocean absorbs ever more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, the pH level in many of its seawaters is falling. In other words, their...
How carbon emissions acidify our ocean and how IAEA helps in understanding its effects
(Graphic: A. Vargas Terrones /IAEA) Ocean acidification is a consequence of increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, a greenhouse gas driving climate change. The ocean absorbs...
The climate crisis in the polar regions doesn’t stay in the polar regions
Lilliehook Glacier in Svalbard Bay, in the Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. COURTESY HSH PRINCE ALBERT II OF MONACO In 2005, I stood in...
Here’s how the ocean is being harnessed as a climate solution
Ocean waves break onto a beach not far from Breidamerkurjokull glacier on Aug. 18, 2021 near Hof, Iceland. Iceland is undergoing a strong impact from...
The 5 biggest threats to West Africa’s oceans – and what to do about them
Plastic bottles and other waste are some of the contaminants destroying the oceans. Issouf Sanogo/AFP via Getty Images The natural resources that form ocean ecosystems can...
Woods Hole: What is Ocean Acidification?
Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, when humans began burning coal in large quantities, the world's ocean water has gradually become more acidic. Like...
NOAA – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
In the 200-plus years since the industrial revolution began, the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere has increased due to human actions. During...
IUCN: ocean acidification
The oceans have absorbed between 24% and 33% of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions during the past five decades. While this uptake provides a valuable...
Contrasting futures for ocean and society from different anthropogenic CO2 emissions scenarios
Anthropogenic CO2 emissions directly affect atmospheric chemistry but also have a strong influence on the oceans. Gattuso et al., review how the physics, chemistry, and...
Coral reefs under rapid climate change and ocean acidification
Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration is expected to exceed 500 parts per million and global temperatures to rise by at least 2 degrees C by 2050...
The geological record of ocean acidification
Ocean acidification may have severe consequences for marine ecosystems; however, assessing its future impact is difficult because laboratory experiments and field observations are limited by...
Detecting regional anthropogenic trends in ocean acidification against natural variability
...Ocean observations are severely limited with respect to providing reliable estimates of the signal-to-noise ratio of human-induced trends in carbonate chemistry against natural factors. Using...
Economic costs of ocean acidification: a look into the impacts on global shellfish production
...By performing a partial-equilibrium analysis, we estimate global and regional economic costs of production loss of mollusks due to ocean acidification. Our results show that...
Ten ways states can combat ocean acidification (and why they should)
The ocean is becoming more acidic worldwide as a result of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and other pollutants. This fundamental change is likely to...
Actualización de lo que sabemos sobre la acidificación de los océanos y de los principales retos globales (Spanish)
Es asombroso pensar que hace sólo diez años casi nadie había oído hablar de la acidificación del océano. Ahora es mucho más ampliamente comprendido que...
Acidificación: Cmo afecta el CO2 a los océanos? (Spanish)
"Los océanos no sólo están aumentando de nivel y de temperatura, sino que también se vuelven más ácidos" Resource type: website Resource format: document/pdf Divulga...
Monitoring ocean carbon and ocean acidification
Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration has increased by 42% since the onset of the industrial revolution due to emissions from fossil fuel burning, cement production...
State of the global climate 2020
In order to unpack such complexity, the WMO State of the Global Climate uses seven Climate Indicators to describe the changing climate providing a broad...
NIWA: Ocean Acidification
The on-going rise of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere is not only changing our climate; it is also changing our oceans. More than a...
