Background This report is produced as part of the project “Baltic Sea Acidification Mitigation” (BALSAM), supported by the Swedish Institute. The aim of this report and other, corresponding reports (produced for the other countries participating in BALSAM) is primarily to inform environmental NGOs and other stakeholders interested in environmental issues. The aim of this country report is to provide information on Ocean Acidification (OA) in the Baltic Sea with special emphasis on Swedish waters, and to provide an insight into the research and monitoring that are the basis of the current understanding of OA in these waters. This is done as support for campaigning towards mitigation of greenhouse gases and protection of the seas. Whereas this document is not a comprehensive literature review, it is intended as a timely guide to the concept of OA, and does contain key publications and links to further indepth reading and sources of additional information.
Introduction Ocean acidification (OA) comes in the wake of climate change as the result of increased atmospheric CO2, which is taken up by the oceans. About 30 % of the CO2 that is emitted to the atmosphere because of human activity ends up in the waterbodies. Part of the CO2 reacts with water, and forms carbonic acid. Some of the carbonic acid dissociates, resulting in bicarbonate and in hydrogen ions. This process leads to acidification (lower pH, i.e. higher concentration of hydrogen ions). Organisms in the oceans are adapted to the pH-conditions that have prevailed in the seas prior to this human driven acidification-process. Especially calcifying organisms are sensitive to acidification, but the physiology of many other organisms can be affected as well, as can the complex ecological interactions between organisms. In a global setting, ongoing and projected effects of OA have been extensively described in several IPCC reports (e.g. IPCC, 2018, 2019).
In Sweden, an interdisciplinary review on causes and consequences of OA in the Swedish Seas (including both the Baltic Sea and the more saline waters of Skagerrak at the Swedish west coast), as well as knowledge gaps, was published relatively recently as part of work supported by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (Havenhand et al. 2017). Additionally, in the same context, a scientific review focusing on the ecological consequences of OA was published by Havenhand et al. in 2019. A policy brief1 on OA in the Baltic Sea was furthermore published in 2020 by The Baltic Sea Centre of Stockholm University (Gustafsson & Winder 2020). This policy brief provides a general view of OA as support for policy making.
Tampa Bay coastal acidification research conducted by Dr. Kim Yates of SPCMSC was highlighted in the latest Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) National Estuary Program (NEP) Report, “The National Estuary Program: At the Forefront of Climate Change Adaptation, Hazard Mitigation, and Resilience.”
Dr. Kim Yates of the USGS St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center has partnered with the Tampa Bay Estuary Program, EPA National Estuary Program, University of South Florida, and other state and local collaborators for several years to conduct coastal acidification research in Tampa Bay. The partners developed and deployed two ocean carbon systems, one within the bay and a second 60 miles offshore in the Gulf of Mexico to study changes in acidification parameters within and near the bay. The results of these studies are used to study processes and consequences of acidification, effects of seagrass beds on seawater carbon chemistry and blue carbon, and the potential role of seagrass in protecting Tampa Bay’s marine species from harmful effects of climate change and coastal and ocean acidification. These data are shared and compared across regions and synthesized into national assessments such as the recent EPA report, “Measuring Coastal Acidification Using in Situ Sensors in the National Estuary Program.”
This research is featured within a recently released Environmental Protection Agency report, “The National Estuary Program: At the Forefront of Climate Change Adaptation, Hazard Mitigation, and Resilience.” The report describes the NEP’s efforts to address climate change impacts in their watersheds, working in partnership with federal, state, and local entities. The document specifically focuses on more than 145 NEP projects active in the past four years, between fiscal years 2017-2020. The NEPs implement a wide-ranging portfolio of climate adaptation, hazard mitigation, and resiliency projects. The NEP was established as a non-regulatory program to improve the waters and habitats of 28 estuaries of national significance, including Tampa Bay.
OA Week 2021, LAOCA (Latin America & Caribbean) Hub Session
Dr. Paulo Horta, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil
Description: Brazil’s Economic Exclusive Zone (EEZ) extends from 5o N to 33o S along more than 8,000 km and corresponds to 3.5 million km². This huge marine area is also called the “Blue Amazon”; it is rich in biodiversity, fisheries resources, growing aquaculture, and key ecosystems such as mangroves, coral reefs, seamounts, seagrass meadows, rhodolith beds provide services such as shore protection, carbonate deposits and atmospheric CO2 sink. The Brazilian Ocean Acidification Network (BrOA; www.broa.furg.br) comprises 41 associated researchers from 9 Brazilian institutions, distributed along almost all country regions. The network has been working on local monitoring in LTER programs, regional ocean observational initiatives, experimental and modelling efforts to investigate trends and impacts of OA in the western South Atlantic Ocean (WSAO). Besides important advances with some isolated monitoring programs and experimental facilities, Brazil still experiences knowledge gaps, infrastructure deficiencies, and other OA-related issues in the WSAO. This presentation outlines the main BrOA network results and advances in the last 10 years, as well as our challenges facing marine ecosystem management in Brazil’s EEZ through the UN Ocean Decade and under a climate change scenario and a hostile government environmental agenda.
Ocean Acidification Week 2021 was sponsored by the following organizations:
(1) GOA-ON, the Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network,
(2) NOAA, the United States National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration,
(3) IAEA OA-ICC, the International Atomic Energy Agency – Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre, and
(4) IOC-UNESCO – the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
OA Week 2021, LAOCA (Latin America & Caribbean) Hub Session
Dr. Leticia Espinosa Carreón, Instituto Politécnico Nacional – CIIDIR Sinaloa, Mexico
Description: With the support of the Secretariat of the Navy, Mexican Navy (SEMAR) and the National Institute of Fisheries and Aquaculture (INAPESCA), it has participated in 13 oceanographic cruises from Tijuana, BC, to Chiapas, covering the entire Mexican Pacific since 2016 to 2021. Six students are developing their Master of Science and PhD thesis. Some of the results obtained are presented. In 2016, CO2 sequestration was recorded in five of six areas of the Gulf of California. In the tropical Pacific zone, it was registered in April 2017 as a source of CO2, while, in the same region, in April 2018, a sink. In the Baja California Sur region in 2019, the relationship between DIC and water masses was presented. In Baja California and Baja California Sur, a latitudinal transect shows the sinking of the isotherms and the influence of the water of the California Current from north to south, as well as the latitudinal variation of some species of coccolithophores.
Ocean Acidification Week 2021 was sponsored by the following organizations:
(1) GOA-ON, the Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network,
(2) NOAA, the United States National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration,
(3) IAEA OA-ICC, the International Atomic Energy Agency – Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre, and
(4) IOC-UNESCO – the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Description: The presentation will provide an overview of the current state of European policies and legislation targeting Ocean Acidification, and provide recommendations from a science-policy perspective.
Ocean Acidification Week 2021 was sponsored by the following organizations:
(1) GOA-ON, the Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network,
(2) NOAA, the United States National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration,
(3) IAEA OA-ICC, the International Atomic Energy Agency – Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre, and
(4) IOC-UNESCO – the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Explore the science behind falling ocean pH and the impact this has on marine ecosystem balance
Ocean acidification occurs when carbon dioxide (CO2) is absorbed rapidly into the ocean.
It reacts with water molecules (H2O) to form carbonic acid (H2CO3). This compound then breaks down into a hydrogen ion (H+) and bicarbonate (HCO3–). These hydrogen ions decrease seawater pH.
In chemical terms, ocean acidfication is described like this:
CO2 + H2O → (H+) + (HCO3–)
The rising CO2 problem
Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the early 1800s, the rise of fossil fuel-powered machinery has been the catalyst for the emission of billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases into our atmosphere.
Carbon dioxide levels have now risen by 30 per cent since the Industrial Revolution.
Scientists now know that about a quarter of carbon dioxide emissions have been absorbed by the oceans.
Monitoring shows that burning fossil fuels has caused unprecedented changes to ocean chemistry due to ocean uptake of millions of tonnes of CO2 each year.
Falling pH
Surface ocean waters are alkaline; on average pH 8.1. But because a quarter of human CO2 emissions are taken up by surface seawater this could drop to pH 7.8 by the end of the century, lower than at any time in human history.
The change in ocean acidity will not make it more dangerous for us to swim or surf in.
Seas are not actually going to be acidic – they will still be more alkaline than tap water.
Ocean acidification is happening rapidly worldwide. We have shown that this has knock-on effects that degrade marine ecosystems and impact fishing industries and food supplies. Plans are in place to ensure that University of Plymouth research is strategically aligned to inform the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) and embed solutions that slow ocean degradation and build recovery of our coastal resources.
The poem “Ocean Acidification” blends science and poetry to explore one of the challenges a high-CO2 world poses to the ocean and the species, ecosystems, and human communities that depend on it.
Author Samantha Jones’ PhD research on carbon cycling in the Canadian Arctic inspired this work, which first appeared in WATCH YOUR HEAD (online) in March 2021 at watchyourhead.ca/.
Samantha is currently a PhD Candidate in Geography at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada.
The special issue examines opportunities and challenges facing U.S. states in responding to ocean acidification (OA) and includes 42 authors representing government and non-government institutions across nine states.
Many of the authors are resource managers on the front lines of addressing OA, using a variety of strategies to assess information needs, develop data sets, build partnerships inside and outside state government and formulate approaches that link ocean change science to management at local and regional scales.
Impacts of climate change and increasing OA pose significant risk to states, communities and economies that enjoy and depend on thriving fisheries and shellfish production related to commercial, subsistence or cultural practices. Although the issue consolidates current and emerging U.S. state policy directives and practices, local and international actors may benefit from lessons learned and case studies presented—further advancing subnational and national efforts to address climate and ocean change.
“Lessons learned and partnerships forged at a state level have strengthened regional alignment and international vision for action,” said Dr. Caren Braby, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife on the special issue’s contributors.
The issue is comprised of four peer-reviewed articles and two essays, including:
Opportunities for State Governments and In-Region Partners to Address Ocean Acidification Through Management and Policy Frameworks (Turner, et al.)
Understanding and Advancing Natural Resource Management in the Context of Changing Ocean Conditions (Keil, et al.)
Monitoring Ocean Acidification Within State Borders: Lessons Learned from Washington State (Gonski, et al.)
Capacity Building to Address Ocean Change: Organizing Across Communities of Place, Practice and Governance to Achieve Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia Resilience in Oregon (Essay by Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.)
Community Science for Coastal Acidification Monitoring and Research (Gassett, et al.)
International and Domestic Leadership by U.S. States on Ocean Acidification (Essay by Ocean Conservancy.)
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Ocean and Cryosphere in Changing Climate (IPCC, 2019) has emphasized that climate change is already having major impacts on our ocean. The report warns that ocean acidification is “virtually certain” to continue to be exacerbated by carbon emissions, with a high emissions path posing the most significant risks for severe and large changes. The Paris Agreement brought into force by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) provides a framework for 195 nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
It is against this backdrop that subnational governments, including U.S. states, are sharing information and responding to climate and ocean change by setting ambitious goals and targets of their own to mitigate, adapt and build resiliency.
“State have the advantage of being able to act quickly, innovate and experiment with programs, investments and pilot projects. They are typically the primary regulator—or strong influencer—in implementing most ocean-based climate solutions and responses,” said Whitney Berry, Senior Manager of Climate Policy, Ocean Conservancy.
Learn more about the Fisheries and Oceans Climate Change and Ocean Acidification Laboratory (FOCCOAL). This state-of-the-art system, developed by DFO scientists at the Pacific Biological Station, allows tight control of both seawater pH and temperature.
Climate change and extreme weather are threatening human health and safety, food, water and energy security and the environment in Latin America and the Caribbean. The impacts span the entire region, including Andean peaks, mighty river basins and low-lying islands, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). It flags concerns about fires and the loss of forests which are a vital carbon sink.
The “State of the Climate in Latin America and the Caribbean 2020” provides a snapshot of the effects of increasing temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, storms and retreating glaciers. It includes transboundary analyses, such as of the drought of the South American Pantanal and the intense hurricane season in Central America-Caribbean. It provides a detailed regional breakdown of worsening global climate change indicators.
The report and an accompanying story map show how marine life, coastal ecosystems and the human communities that depend on them, particularly in Small Island Developing States, are facing increasing threats from ocean acidification and heat and rising sea levels.
It follows the release of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report on Climate Change 2021: the Physical Science basis, which said that temperatures in the region have increased more than the global average and are likely to continue to do so. It also projected changing precipitation patterns, more sea level rise, coastal flooding and marine heatwaves.
The Arctic Ocean is changing faster than any other ocean region in the world. Uptake of anthropogenic carbon, amplified warming, sea ice reduction, coastal erosion, and enhanced riverine runoff are driving important changes in the Arctic Ocean ecosystems through changes in primary production and ocean acidification. However, the current understanding of primary production and ocean acidification in the Arctic remains highly uncertain. Furthermore, projections of both processes by Earth-System Models diverge strongly in this region.
During this webinar, Dr. Terhaar presented:
(1) a modelling study that quantifies the impact of terrigenous nutrients from rivers and coastal erosions on Arctic Ocean primary production, a process that was (wrongly?) neglected so far, and
(2) results from two studies on emergent constraint on ocean acidification in the Arctic Ocean that suggests that projections of Earth-System Models collectively underestimated the extent of future ocean acidification in the Arctic Ocean.
We hope you enjoy this hour-long panel discussion on ocean and coastal acidification’s impact on scallops and softshell clams, methods of remediation, and future projections for the Gulf of Maine.
The talk was moderated by Dr. Libby Jewett, Director of the NOAA Ocean Acidification Program.
Panelists included, Dr. Samantha Siedlecki, University of Connecticut; Dr. Nichole Price, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences; and Dr. Robert J Holmberg, Downeast Institute.
Inspired by the Ocean Confessions by Pete Fung and Samein Shamshar and adapted in Tvärminne research station in Hanko by a multidisciplinary research group as part of the Baltic Sea Lab in the CreaTures Research project funded by the EU Horizon 2020 grant.
We invite you to participate in this action of caring for the Baltic Sea!
We want to enable a personal encounter with the sea by providing the participants to express their love, concerns, transgressions or fears for their local sea. The science we face daily is worrying and might easily lead us to feeling defeated and powerless. Through voicing our emotions, we can move into a space of gratitude, poetic, reflective, collectively caring. You can participate by attending the event at Hanaholmen or remotely by sending us your message to and for the Baltic Sea.
Participation at Hanaholmen 3 PM – 6 PM:
Professor of practise Julia Lohmann with her team presents her work and encourages us to show our engagement and care for the Baltic Sea. In this activity we will ask participants to spend a moment with the sea and share a thought with this body of water by writing it with chalk, a calcium based medium that acts as a token against ocean acidification. This writing will happen either directly on the rocks or on smaller stones and pieces of bark that can be placed by the shore. The reflections of care will be given to the sea.
As a symbolic act of care, the writings on the rock will be done using street chalk, which is made of calcium carbonate, and will enter the sea in the end. Calcium carbonate buffers the acidification of the sea caused by climate change.
Webinar speaker: Dr. Elliot Scanes, Chancellor’s Research Fellow, Climate Change Cluster, The University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
Description:
Climate change is impacting ecosystems and organisms worldwide. Estuaries are diverse and important aquatic ecosystems; and yet until now we have lacked information on the response of estuaries to climate change. In this seminar I will present data from a twelve-year monitoring program, involving 6200 observations of 166 estuaries along ~1100 kilometers of the Australian coastline. Estuary temperatures increased by 2.16 C on average over 12 years, at a rate of 0.2 C/year, with waters acidifying at a rate of 0.09 pH units and freshening at 0.086 PSU/year. Lagoons and rivers are warming and acidifying at the fastest rate because of shallow average depths and limited oceanic exchange. The changes measured are an order of magnitude faster than predicted by global ocean and atmospheric models, indicating that existing global models may not be useful to predict change in estuaries. Estuaries are also home to diverse ecosystems and valuable economies supported by oysters. Oysters rely on bacterial communities forming a microbiome for their health and survival. Oysters are also vulnerable to disease and this is may be exacerbated by climate change in estuaries. We found that warming and acidification can shift the microbiome of Sydney rock oysters (Saccostrea glomerata), however, these effects can be ameliorated by selective breeding. We show that oyster genetic background may influence the microbiome under climate change and that future assisted evolution breeding programs could be used to enhance resilience in the oyster microbiome.
The GOA-ON webinar series has four sponsoring organizations:
(1) GOA-ON, the Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network,
(2) NOAA, the United States National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration,
(3) IAEA OA-ICC, the International Atomic Energy Agency – Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre, and
(4) IOC-UNESCO – the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
As the ocean acidifies, marine life comes under threat. Bubble sites in Papua New Guinea act as a time machine, allowing us to see the future we’re heading towards. How can we avert the worst effects of ocean acidification?
Oyster beds, kelp, and eel grass in Smith Cove to enhance efforts against ocean acidification. The Port of Seattle is leading many efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG emissions), the most important step towards combatting ocean acidification. The Port has been very active in enhancing shoreline habitat, reducing pollution, and engagement with communities. At Smith Cove in Elliott Bay, the Port of Seattle and its partners are conducting scientific research that will contribute to building resiliency in local ecosystems related to ocean acidification. As part of the Port of Seattle’s commitment to the International Alliance to Combat Ocean Acidification (OA Alliance), the Port prepared its first ever Ocean Acidification Action Plan to detail steps we are taking to address ocean acidification. “Last year, the Port of Seattle was the first port in the world to join the International Alliance to Combat Ocean Acidification (OA Alliance), recognizing the many ways in which ocean acidification impacts the maritime sector and acknowledging the important role ports can play in leading environmental action,” said Stephanie Bowman, Port of Seattle Commissioner. “We encourage other ports to join in on these efforts.” The Smith Cove Blue Carbon Pilot Project is located on Port and City-owned aquatic lands near Terminal 91. The goal of the project is to evaluate the potential benefits of marine habitat enhancement of kelp, eelgrass, and oysters on carbon sequestration, water quality (amelioration of seawater acidification), and habitat productivity. The Port of Seattle, along with partners at the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Department of Ecology (Ecology), and the Puget Sound Restoration Fund (PSRF) is monitoring the site over three years for potential benefits in and around the site and includes a community-based science initiative.
The Working Group I contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report addresses the most up-to-date physical understanding of the climate system and climate change, bringing together the latest advances in climate science, and combining multiple lines of evidence from paleoclimate, observations, process understanding, and global and regional climate simulations.
Disclaimer: The Summary for Policymakers (SPM) is the approved version from the 14th session of Working Group I and 54th Session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and remains subject to final copy-editing and layout.
The Technical Summary (TS), the full Report Chapters, the Annexes and the Supplementary Materials are the Final Government Distribution versions, and remain subject to revisions following the SPM approval, corrigenda, copy-editing, and layout.
A wildfire burns in a national park in Oregon, USA. Unsplash/Marcus Kauffman
Climate change is widespread, rapid, and intensifying, and some trends are now irreversible, at least during the present time frame, according to the latest much-anticipated Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, released on Monday.
Human-induced climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe. Scientists are also observing changes across the whole of Earth’s climate system; in the atmosphere, in the oceans, ice floes, and on land.
Many of these changes are unprecedented, and some of the shifts are in motion now, while some – such as continued sea level rise – are already ‘irreversible’ for centuries to millennia, ahead, the report warns.
But there is still time to limit climate change, IPCC experts say. Strong and sustained reductions in emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases, could quickly make air quality better, and in 20 to 30 years global temperatures could stabilize.
‘Code red for humanity’
The UN Secretary-General António Guterres said the Working Group’s report was nothing less than “a code red for humanity. The alarm bells are deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable”.
He noted that the internationally-agreed threshold of 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels of global heating was “perilously close. We are at imminent risk of hitting 1.5 degrees in the near term. The only way to prevent exceeding this threshold, is by urgently stepping up our efforts, and persuing the most ambitious path.
“We must act decisively now, to keep 1.5 alive.”
The UN chief in a detailed reaction to the report, said that solutions were clear. “Inclusive and green economies, prosperity, cleaner air and better health are possible for all, if we respond to this crisis with solidarity and courage”, he said.
He added that ahead of the crucial COP26 climate conference in Glasgow in November, all nations – especiall the advanced G20 economies – needed to join the net zero emissions coaltion, and reinforce their promises on slowing down and reversing global heating, “with credible, concrete, and enhanced Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)” that lay out detailed steps.
