June 19, 2012 – With ocean acidification as an emerging global threat, Britain and the United States are joining a community of concerned nations to establish an Ocean Acidification International Coordination Center. The International Atomic Energy Agency will open the new center this summer at its Environmental Laboratories in Monaco.
Ocean acidification, a process in which seawater chemistry changes when the ocean absorbs rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, is profoundly affecting global waters and their ecologically and economically vital marine life. It is literally causing a sea change and threatening the fundamental chemical balance of ocean and coastal waters from pole to pole.
Because the consequences can be destructive to so many species, acidification is dubbed the “osteoporosis of the sea.” To build essential skeletons and shells, many marine plants and animals require calcium carbonate, an important mineral in seawater. But ocean acidification, if it continues unabated, could eventually inhibit the ability of oysters, clams, corals and other marine life to make hard protective shells and skeletons. In polar and other waters, the corrosive effect may also dissolve shells and skeletons already built.
Invisible to most, our fragile, indispensable marine life is increasingly facing the challenge of more corrosive waters as more CO2 is taken up by the ocean. Some creatures may benefit from rising acidity, but scientific evidence suggests that many, including corals, will not.
Corals provide the fundamental structure of our planet’s treasured coral reef ecosystem, and calcium carbonate is indispensable to making their skeletal framework. Increasing acidity means corals must use more energy to build their protective habitat. With too much ocean acidification, reefs will degrade and, ultimately, may disappear.
Read the full story at the New York Times.