A major chemistry experiment is taking place in the world’s oceans, with potentially irreversible effects on marine ecosystems and commercial fisheries.
According to scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 30% of the world’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, known to be a leading cause of global warming, are being absorbed by the ocean. Small coincidence that over the past 50 years of global industrialization, rising CO2 emissions have also led to a 30% increase in the average acidity of ocean surface water.
This phenomenon is just starting to attract the attention– and alarm– of policymakers and the shellfish industry. I talked to Scott Doney and Sarah Cooley at WHOI to find out why.
