New study to investigate the impacts of ocean acidification in
the Southern Ocean
09 January 2013
PML scientists, amongst a team of thirty
others from eight of the UK’s top research
laboratories, are participating in a major UK expedition to
the Southern Ocean. The team are setting out on an
oceanographic mission to study the effect of ocean acidification in
waters near Antarctica. The five week long research cruise, aboard
the Natural Environment Research Council’s RRS James Clark
Ross, departed yesterday for some of the coldest waters
on Earth.
The ocean is an integral part of the climate
system. By absorbing large amounts of the carbon dioxide
(CO2), mostly produced as result of our use of fossil
fuels, the ocean helps to slow the rate and severity of climate
change. The global ocean has absorbed more than 30% of the total
CO2 produced by human activities in the past 200 years.
While this can be seen as a benefit, the down side is that as the
ocean absorbs more and more CO2 its chemistry changes
and the seawater moves down the pH scale towards acidity. This
process is known as ocean acidification.
Cold waters naturally hold more CO2
than warmer waters so the icy Southern Ocean is expected to be
especially informative for studying the effects of ocean
acidification. Additionally, deep-water upwelling around Antarctica
brings water to the surface that already contains very high levels
of CO2. For these reasons, the waters of the Southern
Ocean are likely to provide a unique window into how the marine
environment will respond to higher CO2 levels in the
future.
You can find out more about the PML scientists
aboard and follow their journey to Southern Ocean
here.