Latest news with #oceanacidification
Sustainability Times
5 days ago
- Science
- Sustainability Times
'Ocean Acidification Is a Time Bomb': This Silent Threat Is Accelerating Extinction and Pushing Earth Toward an Irreversible Collapse
IN A NUTSHELL 🌊 The oceans have surpassed a critical acidification threshold , endangering marine ecosystems and biodiversity. , endangering marine ecosystems and biodiversity. 🐚 Key species like coral reefs and pteropods are severely affected, impacting food chains and coastal economies. and are severely affected, impacting food chains and coastal economies. 🔬 The invisibility of this threat complicates public awareness and political response, despite its profound impacts. 🌍 Urgent action is needed to reduce CO₂ emissions and implement local adaptation measures to mitigate long-term damage. The silent transformation of our oceans is unfolding at a pace that demands urgent attention. According to a recent international study led by Plymouth Marine Laboratory, ocean acidification has already crossed a critical threshold, with profound implications for marine ecosystems, coastal economies, and global stability. Although this change is invisible to the naked eye, its effects are far-reaching and devastating. As we explore this peril, it's crucial to understand the stakes involved and the potential paths forward. How will this invisible threat reshape our world, and what can we do to mitigate its impact? Crossing a Critical Threshold: The Alarming Reality In 2020, the global ocean surpassed a vital threshold of acidification far earlier than predicted, yet this did not trigger the expected political alarm. The key indicator for this threshold is aragonite saturation, a mineral essential for forming the shells and skeletons of many marine organisms. When its levels drop by more than 20% from pre-industrial times, marine ecosystems are at risk. Research shows that this biological and chemical barrier has been breached in over half of the waters between the surface and 656 feet deep, areas dense with marine life. Contrary to popular belief, most biodiversity is not concentrated at the surface but within these intermediate waters. Professor Helen Findlay emphasizes that species in these zones are as crucial as the visible corals in shallow waters. The breach of this threshold signifies more than just a scientific measurement; it is a concrete warning. The oceans are no longer effectively buffering CO₂, and water chemistry has already been altered enough to threaten vital functions like calcification and reproduction. This change accelerates biodiversity loss, destabilizes food chains, and makes restoring marine habitats increasingly difficult. This quiet crossing marks a significant shift in the health of our oceans. 'Code Red for Humanity': World Set to Explode Past 1.5°C Heat Limit by 2030, UN Warns of Irreversible Chaos Lost Habitats and Endangered Species The impacts of ocean acidification are no longer theoretical; they are now visibly affecting the most sensitive marine habitats. The study led by Plymouth Marine Laboratory reveals that 43% of tropical and subtropical coral reefs have already lost the chemical conditions necessary for their survival. Although these reefs cover only about 1% of the ocean surface, they host over a quarter of known marine biodiversity. Their rapid decline directly jeopardizes the reproduction, feeding, and protection of thousands of species. Further north, in the cold waters of polar regions, pteropods—tiny planktonic mollusks known as 'sea butterflies'—have lost up to 61% of their viable habitat. Despite their small size, they are a fundamental link in Arctic and Antarctic food webs, serving as prey for species like salmon, cod, and whales. Coastal bivalves, such as oysters and mussels, are also losing ground. Globally, they have experienced a 13% reduction in coastal zones where essential biological functions—growth, calcification, reproduction—can still occur properly. These losses are directly tied to the pH drop caused by the dissolution of CO₂ in seawater, which converts into carbonic acid, making the environment more acidic and reducing the availability of calcium carbonate, vital for shell and skeleton formation. As this availability decreases, marine organisms become more vulnerable, threatening ecosystem balance and coastal economies dependent on them. 'This Kitchen Staple Destroys Ant Colonies Fast': How Table Salt Eliminates Infestations Without a Single Drop of Insecticide The Challenge of Visibility and Response One of the great paradoxes of ocean acidification lies in its invisibility. Unlike an oil spill or coral bleaching, this threat does not present an obvious visual cue. 'There is no clear alarm signal,' notes Steve Widdicombe, Scientific Director at Plymouth Marine Laboratory. On the shoreline, nothing suggests that water pH has dropped critically. This absence of direct perception complicates public and political awareness, despite already measurable impacts. A striking example occurred in the Pacific Northwest around 2010. The oyster industry, well-established in this region, suddenly suffered an unexpected production collapse. Investigations revealed that deep waters, naturally more CO₂-rich, had upwelled to the surface, exacerbated by global acidification. These corrosive waters disrupted the development of oyster larvae, unable to form their shells properly. The response from industry professionals was immediate and technical. Hatcheries installed sensors to monitor the pH of pumped water in real-time, adding alkaline solutions to neutralize the acidity. While this system saved the industry locally, it remains costly and inaccessible to many countries. Jessie Turner, Director of the International Alliance to Combat Ocean Acidification, emphasizes, 'Adaptation is possible, but it requires resources, monitoring, and committed governance.' 4 Tons of Water, 19 Firefighters: Greece Unleashes Airbus H215 Mega-Helicopters in Massive Aerial Firefighting Revolution Ocean Acidification: A Silent Emergency, A Possible Turning Point Ocean acidification is progressing quietly, but its effects are concrete, documented, and irreversible in the short term. This is not a distant scenario but a reality substantiated by robust data. By crossing the planetary safety threshold in 2020, the oceans have reached a critical point, already affecting food chains, coral reefs, and economic sectors like fishing and aquaculture. Researchers call for a clear response. Reducing global CO₂ emissions is essential to slow the phenomenon sustainably. Additionally, local adaptation measures must develop, such as water chemistry monitoring, protecting resilient habitats, or limiting organic pollution. The challenge remains to integrate this often secondary topic into climate and marine policies. As Jessie Turner warns, the risk lies in government inaction, leaving room for inadequately regulated private initiatives, like certain forms of ocean geoengineering that remain poorly scientifically evaluated. The upcoming UN Ocean Summit in Nice, coinciding with the publication of this crucial data, offers a concrete window for action. By incorporating acidification into international discussions, decision-makers can still influence the trajectory. Could this event mark the beginning of a coordinated response to a long-overlooked crisis? Our author used artificial intelligence to enhance this article. Did you like it? 4.7/5 (27)
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Ocean Acidity Has Reached Critical Levels, And We're All Under Threat
Ocean acidity is one of the key markers of Earth's health, because if it tips too far towards acidic then the results can be catastrophic – and a new study suggests the world's waters are now entering this danger zone. A team of scientists from the US and UK looked at what's known as the planetary boundary for ocean acidification, defined as a 20 percent drop in average surface aragonite saturation – that's the calcium carbonate material that many marine organisms use for shells and skeletons. Combining computer models with the latest field measurements, the researchers found that globally, the oceans were either very close to or beyond the boundary. Around 60 percent of deeper waters have gone beyond it, and 40 percent of surface waters. Given the damage already recorded, the team suggests the boundary should actually be set at a 10 percent drop in aragonite saturation – a level the ocean as a whole went past at the turn of the millennium. "Looking across different areas of the world, the polar regions show the biggest changes in ocean acidification at the surface," says biological oceanographer Helen Findlay from Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) in the UK. "Meanwhile, in deeper waters, the largest changes are happening in areas just outside the poles and in the upwelling regions along the west coast of North America and near the equator." While ocean acidification is not something you'll immediately notice as you gaze out across the sea from the shoreline, it has a profound effect. It damages coral reefs, makes waters inhospitable for shell-building creatures, and kills off or weakens other marine life. That then has a knock-on effect on the rest of the ecosystem. This acidification happens when carbon dioxide is absorbed by the ocean and reacts with water, and so the more greenhouse gases saturate the atmosphere, the more acidic the world's waters are going to become. "Most ocean life doesn't just live at the surface – the waters below are home to many more different types of plants and animals," says Findlay. "Since these deeper waters are changing so much, the impacts of ocean acidification could be far worse than we thought. "This has huge implications for important underwater ecosystems like tropical and even deep-sea coral reefs that provide essential habitats and nursing refuge for many species." Scientists have agreed on eight other planetary boundaries besides ocean acidification, and we've already crossed six of them. Ocean acidification would be the seventh, and shows the dire straits that Earth is now in. The researchers behind this latest study want to see a rapid response to the dangers, with targeted action taken in the areas most vulnerable to acidification – as well as protective measures for those areas that haven't been as badly affected so far. "Ocean acidification isn't just an environmental crisis – it's a ticking time bomb for marine ecosystems and coastal economies," says Steve Widdicombe from PML, who wasn't directly involved in the study. "From the coral reefs that support tourism to the shellfish industries that sustain coastal communities, we're gambling with both biodiversity and billions in economic value every day that action is delayed." The research has been published in Global Change Biology. Emperor Penguins Disappearing Faster Than Worst Estimates, Study Finds World Oceans Day: Scientists Freeze Coral to Save The Great Barrier Reef Volcanic Eruptions Can Create Ice in The Sky, And We Finally Know How
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
'It's a ticking time bomb': Acid levels in Earth's oceans have already breached 'danger zone', study suggests
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Earth's oceans are in worse condition than scientists thought, with acidity levels so high that our seas may have entered a "danger zone" five years ago, according to a new study. Humans are inadvertently making the oceans more acidic by releasing carbon dioxide (CO2) through industrial activities such as the burning of fossil fuels. This ocean acidification damages marine ecosystems and threatens human coastal communities that depend on healthy waters for their livelihoods. Previous research suggested that Earth's oceans were approaching a planetary boundary, or "danger zone," for ocean acidification. Now, in a new study published Monday (June 9) in the journal Global Change Biology, researchers have found that the acidification is even more advanced than previously thought and that our oceans may have entered the danger zone in 2020. The researchers concluded that by 2020, the average condition of our global oceans was in an uncertainty range of the ocean acidification boundary, so the safety limit may have already been breached. Conditions also appear to be worsening faster in deeper waters than at the surface, according to the study. "Ocean acidification isn't just an environmental crisis — it's a ticking time bomb for marine ecosystems and coastal economies," Steve Widdicombe, director of science and deputy chief executive at Plymouth Marine Laboratory, a marine research organization involved in the new study, said in a statement. "As our seas increase in acidity, we're witnessing the loss of critical habitats that countless marine species depend on and this, in turn, has major societal and economic implications." Related: Atlantic ocean currents are weakening — and it could make the climate in some regions unrecognizable In 2009, researchers proposed nine planetary boundaries that we must avoid breaching to keep Earth healthy. These boundaries set limits for large-scale processes that affect the stability and resilience of our planet. For example, there are boundaries for dangerous levels of climate change, chemical pollution and ocean acidification, among others. A 2023 study found that we had crossed six of the nine boundaries. The authors of that study didn't think the ocean acidification boundary had been breached at the time, but they noted it was at the margin of its boundary and worsening. Katherine Richardson, a professor at the Globe Institute at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark who led the 2023 study and was not involved in the new study, told Live Science that she was "not at all surprised" by the new findings. "We said it was on the edge in our last assessment and, as atmospheric CO2 concentrations have risen since then, it is hardly surprising that it should be transgressed now," Richardson said in an email. Ocean acidification is mostly caused by the ocean absorbing CO2. The ocean takes up around 30% of CO2 in the atmosphere, so as human activities pump out CO2, they are forcing more of it into the oceans. CO2 dissolves in the ocean, creating carbonic acid and releasing hydrogen ions. Acidity levels are based on the number of hydrogen ions dissolved in water, so as the ocean absorbs more CO2, it becomes more acidic. The hydrogen ions bond with carbonate ions in the ocean to form bicarbonate, which reduces the carbonate available to marine life like corals, clams and plankton. These animals need carbonate for their bones, shells and other natural structures, which they make out of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). Researchers measure aragonite — one of the soluble forms of CaCO3 — to track ocean acidity levels. The ocean acidification boundary would be breached when the oceans see a 20% reduction of aragonite compared with preindustrial levels (estimated ocean acidification for 1750 and 1850). The 2023 study estimated that ocean acidification was at 19%, just below the boundary. The authors of the new study used physical and chemical measurements in the upper ocean and computer models to update and refine previous ocean acidification estimates. They also introduced a margin of error, including uncertainties in both the boundary and the present-day acidification value. RELATED STORIES —Record-breaking piles of sargassum seaweed wash up on Caribbean beaches, with more on the way —The Earth's oceans used to be green — and could one day turn purple, scientists say —There's an acidic zone 13,000 feet beneath the ocean surface — and it's getting bigger With the new data, the researchers found that at the ocean's surface, the global average acidification level is 17.3% (with a 5% margin of uncertainty) less than preindustrial levels. That estimate is lower than the 2023 estimate but well within the new study's wider boundary region (20% but with a 5.3% margin of uncertainty). The newly estimated acidification levels increased at greater depths, though the margin for error also increased below 330 feet (100 meters), according to the study's data. Not all of the ocean is acidifying at the same rate. For example, the researchers determined that about 40% of the water at the surface had crossed the boundary, but that estimate rose to 60% for the waters below, down to about 650 feet (200 m). "Most ocean life doesn't just live at the surface — the waters below are home to many more different types of plants and animals," study lead author Helen Findlay, a biological oceanographer at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory, said in the statement. "Since these deeper waters are changing so much, the impacts of ocean acidification could be far worse than we thought."
Daily Mail
11-06-2025
- Science
- Daily Mail
'Silent' crisis that threatens to wipe out $300 billion coastal industry
Scientists have warned of an environmental crisis threatening to destroy a $300billion global industry critical to coastal communities worldwide. A new study revealed that ocean acidification has already crossed a global tipping point. This occurs when the ocean absorbs excessive carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, making it more acidic and corrosive to marine organisms. Since the Industrial Revolution, burning fossil fuels has sent massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the air, increasing the ocean's acidity. Scientists revealed that oceans crossed a critical limit for acidification as early as 2000, with 60 percent of deeper waters now beyond the danger zone. The study found that the damage has already led to the loss of 43 percent of coral reef habitat, 61 percent of sea butterfly habitat, and 13 percent of suitable environment for shellfish like oysters and mussels. When the ocean becomes more acidic, it eats away at the building blocks these animals need to grow their shells. This change could push the global seafood industry, worth multi billions toward collapse. The US, with an $11 billion seafood market, is the world's second biggest market and could face serious consequences. 'It is not just an environmental issue anymore,' said Professor Steve Widdicombe, director of science at Plymouth Marine Laboratory and a leading global voice on ocean acidification. 'We are gambling with biodiversity and with billions in economic value every day that action is delayed.' Researchers say ocean acidification is undermining the survival of 'calcifying species' marine organisms that depend on calcium carbonate to form their shells and skeleton. 'Ocean acidification can severely affect marine organisms through its direct impact on physiology, growth, survival and reproduction,' researchers said in the study published in Global Change Biology. Shellfish farming alone contributes billions annually, supporting over 600 million people in coastal communities. Researchers said that by 2020, the ocean's water had already changed enough to go past the safe limit, scientists set to protect sea life from harm caused by too much acidity. In other words, the ocean became too acidic for many marine animals to stay healthy. That line was drawn at a 20 percent reduction in calcium carbonate compared to pre-industrial levels and US West Coast is among the worst affected. But this study suggests that even 10 percent deviation from pre-industrial conditions is enough to push marine ecosystems into danger. The maps highlight areas where conditions are just barely okay for corals, marked by a line called the 3.5 contour. Purple dots show where coral reefs are found. The maps compare four different times: (a) before big human impacts, (b) in 2020, (c) after a 10 percent drop from the old healthy level, and (d) after a 20 percent drop from the old healthy level. The Pacific oyster, a key part of US seafood farming, struggles to survive when ocean water gets too acidic. In the early 2010s, oyster hatcheries in the US Pacific Northwest almost shut down because the seawater became too acidic. To fix this, hatcheries started using sensors to monitor the water and added chemicals to keep it safe for oysters. However, many smaller or remote hatcheries often can not afford these fixes, and the same problem is now showing up along the Gulf and East coasts. However, many coastal areas around the world still do not have the tools or government help to deal with this problem. The damage is not limited to oysters. Tiny sea creatures called pteropods, a major food source for fish like salmon and mackerel, are already being hit hard by acidifying waters. By 2020, more than half of their polar habitat was damaged, with marine life struggling to survive. If they disappear, it could shake the entire ocean food chain. Coral reefs, though less common in US waters, are also at risk, putting coastal protection and young fish habitats in danger. As the ocean condition worsen, the sector is impacting both livelihoods and economy of US seafood industry. According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the US marine industry supported 2.3 million jobs and generated $321 billion in sales in 2022. In addition to this, a report funded by the National Sea Grant Program found that US aquaculture, adds about $4 billion to the economy each year and supports over 22,000 employment. In the Pacific Northwest, where commercial shellfish farms thrive, corrosive seawater has already crossed the danger threshold. Despite growing evidence, the crisis remains largely unseen. 'There's no smoking gun,' said Professor Steve Widdicombe of Plymouth Marine Laboratory to The Guardians. 'It is tough to convince policymakers when the water looks fine from the beach.' International goals exist, like the UN's Sustainable Development Goal 14 and the Global Biodiversity Framework, but few governments, including the US, have laid out aggressive national plans specifically targeting acidification. 'Ocean acidification is a crisis we cannot see,' said Professor Helen Findlay, the lead author of the study. 'But its fingerprints are all over our coastlines, hatcheries and ecosystems. And unless we act now, the losses will keep mounting.'
The Guardian
11-06-2025
- Science
- The Guardian
Something in the water: how kelp is helping Maine's mussels boom
On a glimmering May morning, Tom Briggs pilots a 45ft aluminium barge through the waters of Casco Bay for one of the final days of the annual kelp harvest. Motoring past Clapboard Island, he points to a floating wooden platform where mussels have been seeded alongside ribbons of edible seaweed. 'This is our most productive mussel site,' says Briggs, the farm manager for Bangs Island Mussels, a Portland sea farm that grows, harvests and sells hundreds of thousands of pounds of shellfish and seaweed each year. 'When we come here, we get the biggest, fastest-growing mussels with the thickest shells and the best quality. To my mind, unscientifically, it's because of the kelp.' Zoe Benisek, oyster lead at Bangs Island Mussels, harvesting kelp. The seaweed changes water chemistry enough to lower the levels of carbon dioxide to nourish the mussels A growing body of science supports Briggs's intuition. The Gulf of Maine is uniquely vulnerable to ocean acidification, which can impede shell development in mussels, clams, oysters and lobster, threatening an industry that employs hundreds of people and generates $85m to $100m (£63m to £74m) annually. Atmospheric carbon dioxide from fossil fuels is the main driver of declining ocean pH, increasing the acidity of the world's oceans by more than 40% since the preindustrial era and by more than 15% since 1985. Add carbon runoff from growing coastal communities, regular inflows of colder, more acidic water from Canada, and intense thermal stress – the Gulf of Maine is warming three times faster than the global average – and you're left with a delicate marine ecosystem and key economic resource under threat. Enter kelp. The streams of glistening, brownish-green seaweed that Bangs Island seeds on lines under frigid November skies and harvests in late spring are a natural answer to ocean acidification because they devour carbon dioxide. Sensors placed near kelp lines in Casco Bay over the past decade have shown that growing seaweed changes water chemistry enough to lower the levels of carbon dioxide in the immediate vicinity, nourishing nearby molluscs. 'We know that, in general, for shell builders, ocean acidification is bad, and we know that kelp do better in a high-CO2 environment,' says Susie Arnold, the senior ocean scientist at the Island Institute, a non-profit climate and community organisation in Rockland, Maine, and a pioneer of the Bangs Island water experiments. Working with the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, an independent Maine-based research organisation, Arnold and others began testing the water off Chebeague Island in 2015 'to see if we could detect a difference between water chemistry in the middle of all that kelp and far away from it', she says. 'We planted juvenile mussels inside and outside the kelp, and we were able to show that the mussels inside the kelp had a thicker shell. Now you see Bangs Island growing kelp around their mussels because they can make a profit on kelp and also buffer the mussels.' The Bangs Island crew harvesting kelp on their boat in the Gulf of Maine The CEO and co-owner of Bangs Island Mussels, Matt Moretti, studied marine biology in college and grad school, helped raise baby lobsters at the New England Aquarium, and worked on an oyster farm before buying the sea farm with his father in 2010. Within a year, they had started growing kelp alongside the mussels in an approach known as integrated multi-trophic aquaculture. 'Even before we started farming mussels, I was interested in that concept as an environmentally friendly way of farming, and of farming an ecosystem rather than a single species,' Moretti says from his bare-bones upstairs office in Bangs Island's warehouse on the Portland pier. As the kelp harvest grew, Moretti realised they needed a way to stabilise the seaweed, which didn't last long after it came out of the water. For a while they dried it themselves, hanging it in the warehouse and on the docks. Now, they sell the entire fresh seaweed catch to a local processor, which turns it into fermented foods such as kimchi, among other products. Gillian Prostko, chief science officer at Bangs Island Mussels. The harvested kelp is sold to a processor and turned into fermented foods such as kimchi 'We always suspected that there was this positive interaction between the mussels and kelp, and we suspected that because kelp photosynthesises, it sucks carbon out of the water, then therefore it must be good for the ocean and good for the mussels,' Moretti says. Bigelow's water testing has proven that 'we're having a positive impact'. Nichole Price, the director of Bigelow's Centre for Seafood Solutions, collaborated with Arnold on those early experiments and continues to monitor the water around Bangs Island mussel and kelp lines, an effort that has expanded to include water monitoring at seaweed farms from Alaska to Norway. In a paper published this year in the journal Nature Climate Change, Price, Arnold, and a host of co-authors documented yet another way in which seaweed farms can contribute to the health of the world's oceans: by trapping carbon at the bottom of the sea. 'When you harvest, you're not pulling up every last bit of seaweed,' Price says. 'We've been diving under farms during harvest, and you can see the bits and pieces that rain down. Then there's a culling process, the bits and pieces that get tossed over, and that's what this paper has measured: the unusable, unsellable parts of the harvest that end up on the sea floor.' Matt Moretti, founder of Bangs Island Mussels (left) and farm manager Tom Briggs Those discarded seaweed scraps can contribute to what is known as passive deposition of carbon. 'Fingers crossed, it gets covered with sediment fast enough that it's taken out of the global carbon cycle,' Price says. Given the environmental and financial benefits of growing kelp and shellfish together, you might think everyone would be doing it. But co-farming mussels and kelp at scale requires more than just planting and harvesting. With five boats, a plankton monitoring programme, and tanks on the ground floor of the warehouse where baby mussels from a nearby hatchery are carefully seeded on to lines before being placed in the ocean, Bangs Island is part farm, part science lab. Changes in mussel-spawning and seed-collection cycles in recent years have forced Moretti and his staff to pay much closer attention to the surrounding water and its inhabitants, from barnacles – a nuisance to shellfish farmers because they set on mussels – to the microscopic larvae of tunicates, pestilent sea squirts that seeded on nearly all of the farm's mussel lines several years ago, crowding out the shellfish and almost sinking the business. 'Conceptually, what we do is very simple: we grow mussels, harvest them, sell them,' Moretti said. 'But adding all the pieces together is a really big, complicated puzzle.' Today, Bangs Island harvests about 600,000lb (270,000kg) of mussels and 100,000lb of seaweed a year; last fall, they began farming oysters. The oysters, along with about half the mussels, grow in proximity to kelp. 'Climate change, ocean acidification, is a global problem. And when you try to think about it, like, what you can do? It's so daunting,' Moretti says. 'But when you think about us farming kelp in the ocean, it's really the only way we've ever been able to figure out to have a local-scale mitigation of this global problem. It's something we can do here that can help the waters around us that actually has a significant impact.' Kelp ready for harvesting in the Gulf of Maine
