Archived Daytime Events (Global Eyes)

Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory explains Ocean Acidification

Carbon pollution isn't just warming the climate—it's also making our oceans more acidic. NRDC scientist Lisa Suatoni explains why we must pay attention.

Unless carbon dioxide emissions are rapidly curtailed, we expect ocean acidification to continue to lower the pH of seawater.

The change in question is acidification. When carbon dioxide dissolves in water, it makes that water acidic.

Oceans are becoming more acidic as they draw rising levels of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Since 1850, the acidity of the surface ocean has increased by almost 30%, and could double or triple further by 2100 as the growing human population leads to higher CO2 emissions.

A new scientific paper published today in the journal Ocean & Coastal Management concludes that current water quality criteria are inadequate to address ocean acidification on the West Coast. This paper and a related report published last week call for major changes in how California, Oregon and Washington deal with ocean acidification triggered by the high carbon emissions that are also causing climate change.

Air bubbling could restore ocean chemistry for valuable coastal ecosystems, but it’s a costly approach

A look at how ocean acidification affects South Africa

Ocean acidification may cause coastal ecosystems to fall silent as snapping shrimps fail to make noise.

Rob Dunbar hunts for data on our climate from 12,000 years ago, finding clues inside ancient seabeds and corals. His work is vital in setting baselines for fixing our current climate -- and, scarily, in tracking the rise of deadly ocean acidification.

Ocean acidification will literally dissolve some of the shells in the ocean. In this video, Scientists discuss the impact of the ocean's changing pH levels.

In this talk, Dr. Triona McGrath explains how our oceans are changing due to increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and how it will impact our marine life. Triona shares her thoughts on ocean acidification and explain why it is the evil twin of climate change.

allin Busch is a research ecologist at NOAA's Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NWSFC). Her current research focuses on how ocean acidification may impact North Pacific ecosystems. Using the NWFSC ocean acidification experimental system, Dr. Busch applies ecological models to explore how acidification's impacts on susceptible species cascade through food webs, via trophic interactions, to affect other species. To date, these species include geoduck, Pacific oyster, mussels, manila clam, Pacific herring, China rockfish, surf smelt, Dungeness crab, krill, and copepods. Dr. Busch aims to generate data relevant to management of species and communities in a changing environment. Dr. Busch served on the Washington State Blue Ribbon Panel on Ocean Acidification, and discusses how their 2012 report is informing state policy decisions.