Rapidly acidifying waters pose major threat for Southern Ocean ecosystem

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-11/uoha-raw102815.php

Public Release: 2-Nov-2015
Rapidly acidifying waters pose major threat for Southern Ocean ecosystem
University of Hawaii at Manoa

As a result of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, the chemistry of the Southern Ocean is expected to change so fast over the next few decades that tiny creatures at the base of the food web may soon struggle to form their shells. New research by scientists from the University of Hawai'i, Mānoa (UHM) and the University of Alaska, Fairbanks (UAF) finds that for some organisms the onset of such critical conditions will be so abrupt, and the duration of events so long, that adaption may become impossible.

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One of the most threatened marine organisms is the pteropod, a tiny sea snail that serves as a staple for plankton, fish, whales, and seabirds.

Not only is the concentration of carbonate ions projected to fall to dangerously low levels due to ocean acidification, but these conditions will become the new norm across large areas of the Southern Ocean.

"Our analysis shows that in large parts of the Southern Ocean, the duration of such undersaturation events will increase abruptly from one month to more than six months, in less than 20 years upon their onset, and could reach nearly year-long durations by the end of the century," notes co-lead author Tobias Friedrich, climate scientist at IPRC.

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