Latest Ocean chemistry Stories
redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online In the journal Global Change Biology, a worldwide study is published to understand and forecast the likely impact of ocean acidification on shellfish and other marine life living in seas from the tropics to the north and south poles. Ocean acidification is occurring because some of the increased carbon dioxide humans are adding to the atmosphere dissolves in the ocean and reacts with water to produce an acid. According to the...
Changes in ocean chemistry due to increased carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are expected to damage shellfish populations around the world, but some nations will feel the impacts much sooner and more intensely than others, according to a study by scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).As CO2 levels driven by fossil fuel use have increased in the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution, so has the amount of CO2 absorbed by the world's oceans, leading to changes in the...
Projects address concern for acidifying marine ecosystemsWith increasing levels of carbon dioxide accumulating in the atmosphere and moving into marine systems, the world's oceans are becoming more acidic, scientists have shown.To address the growing concern for acidifying marine systems, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded 21 grants under the Ocean Acidification theme of its Climate Research Investment. The awards are supported and managed by NSF's Office of Polar Programs,...
Emissions of carbon dioxide are causing ocean acidification as well as global warming. Scientists have previously used computer simulations to quantify how curbing of carbon dioxide emissions would mitigate climate impacts. New computer simulations have now examined the likely effects of mitigation scenarios on ocean acidification trends. They show that both the peak year of emissions and post-peak reduction rates influence how much ocean acidity increases by 2100. Changes in ocean pH over...
WASHINGTON -- The changing chemistry of the world's oceans is a growing global problem, says the summary of a congressionally requested study by the National Research Council, which adds that unless man-made carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are substantially curbed, or atmospheric CO2 is controlled by some other means, the ocean will continue to become more acidic. The long-term consequences of ocean acidification on marine life are unknown, but many ecosystem changes are expected to result....
Discovery, a First, Could Spur Exploration of Distant Mid-Ocean RidgeScientists at Columbia's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory have found evidence of hydrothermal vents on the seafloor near Antarctica, formerly a blank spot on the map for researchers wanting to learn more about seafloor formation and the bizarre life forms drawn to these extreme environments.Hydrothermal vents spew volcanically heated seawater from the planet's underwater mountain ranges"”the vast mid-ocean ridge system,...
Possible job cuts and revenue loss as a result of ocean acidificationOcean acidification, a direct result of increased CO2 emission, is set to change the Earth's marine ecosystems forever and may have a direct impact on our economy, resulting in substantial revenue declines and job losses.Intensive fossil-fuel burning and deforestation over the last two centuries have increased atmospheric CO2 levels by almost 40%, which has in turn fundamentally altered ocean chemistry by acidifying surface...
A $16 million program launched by the UK government will fund a five-year research study on ocean acidification, BBC News reported.Oceans are becoming more acidic as a result of CO2 from human activities being absorbed by seawater, researchers said, adding that acidification of the oceans will be one of the major environmental concerns of this century.The 5-year study will have researchers analyzing and assessing how marine ecosystems are affected in the Atlantic, Antarctic and Arctic...
NEW YORK, Feb. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Imagine a world without fish. A new documentary on climate change and the oceans proposes just that. The film, A Sea Change, premieres at the DC Environmental Film Festival March 14. A Sea Change is the first documentary about ocean acidification, the underbelly of climate change, a little-known but potentially devastating threat to ocean life. The screening takes place at 3:30 pm in Baird Auditorium, at the National Museum of Natural History, at the...
Researchers have discovered that the ocean's chemical makeup is less stable and more greatly affected by climate change than previously believed. The researchers report in the December 12, 2008 issue of Science that during a time of climate change 13 million years ago the chemical makeup of the oceans changed dramatically. The researchers warn that the chemical composition of the ocean today could be similarly affected by climate changes now underway "“ with potentially far-reaching...
