Ocean acidification

We talk about climate change in most of our courses and awareness of the issue informs much of what we do. Despite this, we don't talk an awful lot about this very worrying aspect.

One of the reasons that the carbon dioxide we have emitted over the years since the industrial revolution has not produced the higher levels in the atmosphere that might be expected is that much of the extra dissolves into seawater. This is a problem because it changes the pH of the water, making it slowly more acidic.

Seawater has been slightly alkaline for a long time and the creatures and plants that inhabit the oceans are adapted to this. Changes are likely to cause problems. There have been two pieces of news about this within the last week. Reuters reported on the National Research Council's report here. ABC News report a problem with oyster hatcheries in the US. One of the predicted issues with ocean acidification is that shellfish whose calcium carbonate shells need alkaline conditions to form will not thrive in more acidic conditions. This seems to be starting to happen as can be seen here.