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Steeper Cuts in Carbon Emissions to Curb Acidification of Oceans
Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology, writing with lead author Richard Zeebe of the University of Hawaii and two co-authors, note that the oceans have absorbed about 40% of the carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted by humans over the past two centuries.
This has slowed global warming, but at a serious cost: the extra carbon dioxide has caused the ocean's average surface pH (a measure of water's acidity) to shift by about 0.1 unit from pre-industrial levels.
Depending on the rate and magnitude of future emissions, the ocean's pH could drop by as much as 0.35 units by the mid-21st century.
This acidification can damage marine organisms.
Experiments have shown that changes of as little as 0.2-0.3 units can hamper the ability of key marine organisms such as corals and some plankton to calcify their skeletons, which are built from pH-sensitive carbonate minerals.
Large areas of the ocean are in danger of exceeding these levels of pH change by mid-century, including reef habitats such as Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
Most marine organisms live in the ocean's sunlit surface waters, which are also the waters most vulnerable to CO2-induced acidification over the next century as emissions continue.
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