Small team with a big challenge in Copenhagen
4th December 2009
The Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans (POGO)
is supporting Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) in sending a team of
three to the climate change talks being held in Copenhagen next
week. POGO works across the world to encourage cooperation and
sharing of scientific information concerning the seas and how they
are changing. It achieves this by bringing global observations
together to obtain clear and comprehensive ideas of how our seas
are affected by the many pressures we humans inflict upon them.
Many of the young scientists it trains and
encourages come from developing nations that are at the frontier of
climate change effects, so the Copenhagen Climate Change talks are
an ideal platform for both POGO and PML.
The group led by Dr Carol Turley is determined to raise the profile
of the oceans and how they may be affected by climate change and
other effects of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The
ocean covers three quarters of the planet’s surface, occupies more
than 90% of its living space and feeds billions of people from its
resources. The ocean is massively important to humans, yet is
barely mentioned in climate change talks. The PML group has a
special mission to bring the little known phenomenon of ocean
acidification onto the international agenda.
Ocean Acidification has become known as
‘climate change’s evil twin’ and is another consequence of
our profligate use of fossil fuels, land use changes and other
industrial processes leading to greater carbon dioxide emissions
into the atmosphere. Normally the vast ocean would help to absorb
CO2 and take it out of harm’s way, actually helping to
slow global warming, but now the ocean, it seems, has taken as much
as it can without itself being affected. The chemistry is
straightforward: add CO2 to water and a weak acid is
formed. The ocean has not become a dissolving acid, but it has
moved a step closer and scientists believe that this change is
going to affect species and habitats across the world, ultimately
impacting on much of the seafood we eat and some nations rely on as
their primary protein source.
“Ocean acidification is the ‘new kid on the
block’ as far as carbon dioxide is concerned”, said Dr Turley,
“We’ve only known about it for less than a decade so the science is
still in its early stages, but there is enough evidence to warrant
very serious concern. Laboratory experiments are showing that
creatures which make skeletons or shells from calcium carbonate are
likely to have difficulty in growing these essential structures. So
far, adult fish seem not to be affected too much, but their eggs
and larvae and the plankton amongst which they live are potential
casualties as the move towards acidity increases”, continued
Turley. “There are too many unknowns for us to feel comfortable. We
don’t know how marine animals may adapt to cope with these chemical
changes; whether they can evolve new forms more suitable to the
changed conditions, or whether they will simply perish, leaving
large gaps in ecosystems. We need to understand these things and
the first step will be to rally scientists, stakeholders and
politicians to recognise that ocean acidification is real, it is
happening now, and it is likely to have significant effects.”
The PML team, which also includes Thecla
Keizer and Kelvin Boot, have a full time table with high level
presentations and meetings arranged throughout their stay; Oceans
Day on December 14th provides a unique opportunity to engage with
world leaders and Carol Turley will be Chairing a special session
on the subject of ocean acidification. PML remains at the forefront
of ocean acidification research and has led studies into the
threats it may pose, in partnership with other scientific
institutes throughout Europe and further afield. The team will be
working very closely with colleagues from the Scripps Institution of
Oceanography and Oceana Inc. throughout the
Copenhagen conference.
Answering the concern that travelling to
Copenhagen is only going to generate hot air and more carbon
dioxide, Kelvin Boot said: “Anyone that has attended any conference
knows that much of the success is gained from chance meetings and
face to face conversations. The idea that such meetings can be
carried out through teleconferencing is naive; thousands of people
are attending this conference and we will be meeting, and hopefully
influencing, a large number of them, something we could never do
with a phone call or a posted leaflet.”