The effects of ocean acidification

By Art Chimes, Washington, D.C. Rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are a major contributor to climate change, and now a new study has confirmed that atmospheric CO2 is also affecting the ocean chemistry, potentially threatening marine life. Montana State University scientist Robert Dore has been taking samples of water in the Pacific Ocean for almost two decades. “We’re sailing out of Honolulu harbor. We’re in the harbor right now and just about to break away from the dock.” I reached Prof. Dore on board the research vessel Kilo Moana, about to leave for a point in the Pacific known as Station Aloha, where he has been studying the ocean water since the late 1980s. “We’ve been going to the same spot in the Pacific Ocean, and we’ve been measuring a whole suite of different chemical, biological, physical measurements to try and characterize long-term change in the open ocean environment. And one of the key things that we measure is CO2. … “It’s important to realize that acidification of the oceans is really happening. And it can have negative impacts on a whole variety of marine life from fisheries to coral reefs. It’s potentially catastrophic.” Montana State University environmental scientist John Dore’s paper appears this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Oceans Becoming More Acidic, Endangering Sea Life via Ocean Acidification