Tag : Acidification

Washington: After discovering acidity levels increasing three to four times faster in the western region of the Arctic Ocean than in any ocean waters elsewhere, an international team of researchers has sounded new alarm bells. The team, which includes University of Delaware marine chemistry expert Wei-Jun Cai, also identified a strong correlation between the accelerated rate of melting ice in the region and the rate of ocean acidification, a perilous combination that threatens the survival of plants, shellfish, coral reefs and other marine life and biological processes throughout the planet's ecosystem. The new study, published on Thursday, Sept. 30 in Science, the flagship journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, is the first analysis of Arctic acidification that includes data from more than two decades, spanning the period from 1994 to 2020. Scientists have predicted that by 2050 -- if not sooner -- Arctic sea ice in this region will no longer survive the increasingly warm summer seasons. As a result of this sea-ice retreat each summer, the ocean's chemistry will grow more acidic, with no persistent ice cover to slow or otherwise mitigate the advance. That creates life-threatening problems for the enormously diverse population of sea creatures, plants and other living things that depend on a healthy ocean for survival. Crabs, for example, live in a crusty shell built from the calcium carbonate prevalent in ocean water. Polar bears rely on healthy fish populations for food, fish and sea birds rely on plankton and plants, and seafood is a key element of many humans' diets. That makes acidification of these distant waters a big deal for many of the planet's inhabitants. First, a quick refresher course on ...