November 15th, 2013 by International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme
Ocean acidification may increase 170% this century with substantial costs expected from coral reef loss and declines in shellfisheries. Cold water corals also at risk. In a major new international report, experts conclude that the acidity of the world’s ocean may increase by around 170% by the end of the century bringing significant economic losses. […]
December 3rd, 2012 by Nature
Ocean temperature is now the primary climate-induced threat to North Atlantic calcifying plankton according to research published in the paper “Long-term responses of North Atlantic calcifying plankton to climate change” in the journal Nature Climate Change. This study suggests that although ocean acidification may become a serious threat in the future, from 1960–2009 the primary […]
November 25th, 2012 by British Antarctic Survey
A paper “Extensive dissolution of live pteropods in the Southern Ocean” published online in Nature Geoscience suggests that the effects of ocean acidification on marine ecosystems are beginning to emerge. Dr Geraint Tarling, of the British Antarctic Survey, and colleagues, examined shells collected from a pteropod, Limacina helicina antarctica, (a planktonic marine snail) in the surface […]
September 26th, 2012 by University of Bristol
Dr Daniela Schmidt, a geologist from the University of Bristol, speaking at the Third International Symposium on the Ocean in a High-CO2 World in Monterey, California, warned that current rates of ocean acidification are unparalleled in Earth history. Dr Schmidt of Bristol’s School of Earth Sciences said “ocean acidification has happened before sometimes with large […]
September 25th, 2012 by Oceana
Oceana, the largest international advocacy group working solely to protect the world’s oceans, has published “Ocean-Based Food Security Threatened in a High CO2 World”, which provides a ranking of nations that are most vulnerable to reductions in seafood production due to climate change and ocean acidification. While seafood is currently a primary source of protein […]
September 17th, 2012 by Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
Coral reefs face severe challenges even if global warming is restricted to the 2° Celsius commonly perceived as safe for many natural and man-made systems. Warmer sea surface temperatures are likely to trigger more frequent and more intense mass coral bleaching events. Only under a scenario with strong action on mitigating greenhouse-gas emissions and the […]
May 28th, 2012 by Allen Lane
In Ocean of Life we get a panoramic tour beneath the seas: Why do currents circulate the way do? Where exactly do they go? How has the chemistry of the oceans changed? How polluted are we making them? Above all, Professor Roberts reveals the richness of their life, and how it has altered over the […]
March 21st, 2012 by Stockholm Environment Institute
Climate change alone could reduce the economic value of key ocean services by up to $2 trillion a year by 2100, a new study shows – but so many threats are converging on the oceans at once, that a global, integrated approach is urgently needed. The study, Valuing the Ocean, is the work of an […]
March 1st, 2012 by The Earth Institute at Columbia University
The world’s oceans may be turning acidic faster today from human carbon emissions than they did during four major extinctions in the last 300 million years, when natural pulses of carbon sent global temperatures soaring, says a new study, The Geological Record of Ocean Acidification, published in Science. The study is the first of its kind […]
February 19th, 2012 by The University of British Columbia
Adding ocean acidification and deoxygenation into the mix of climate change predictions may turn “winner” regions of fisheries and biodiversity into “losers,” according to research produced by the University of British Columbia scientists. Previous projections have suggested the effects of warmer water temperature would result in fish moving pole-ward and deeper towards cooler waters – […]