Ocean and Climate
The ocean is reciprocally linked to climate. On the one hand, it contributes to the global climate by means of the Gulf Stream; on the other, climatic changes affect the ocean and its inhabitants. By storing masses of carbon dioxide, the ocean extracts approximately half of all that man-made gas from the atmosphere. Although this counteracts the greenhouse effect, the ocean’s ability to store CO2 is limited. Moreover, dispersion in water produces an acid that renders the sea more acidic and harmful to calcareous organisms. Shellfish, sea urchins and corals are under threat, and incipient signs of retarded growth can already be observed in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. An additional consequence of acidification is that sounds travel further in acidic water—the very sounds that are audible to whales far from their source.
One of the most serious effects hitherto identified is that climate change is altering the chemistry of the ocean. Thus, new oxygen-deficient areas have come into being—so-called ‘death zones’ in which life can no longer be sustained. In all probability, these zones will expand.
We still know little about the full extent of the effects of climate on the ocean. Research into many questions is currently in progress, and we shall regularly present its results on our pages. We do, however, find that the fruits of research obtained hitherto are sufficient to enable conclusions to be drawn and action to be taken.
Our last symposium in summer 2011 was therefore devoted to this subject.
Ocean and Climate
The ocean is storing masses of carbon dioxide. Thus, approximately half of all the gas produced by humans has been extracted from the atmosphere. Although this counteracts the greenhouse effect, the ocean’s ability to store CO2 is limited. Moreover, dispersion in water produces an acid.
One of the consequences is that sounds travel further in acidic water—the very sounds that are audible to whales far from their source. The ocean is becoming more permeable to these sounds and thus less hospitable to some species of whales.
But acidification also has grave immediate consequences: the acid arising is harmful to calcareous organisms. Shellfish, sea urchins and corals are under threat, and incipient signs of retarded growth can already be observed in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.
Coral reefs, which occur throughout the world’s oceans, are the habitat of many different living creatures and, thus, comparable to rain forests in that respect. They form a nursery for various young fish. If the reefs die, therefore, the species dependent on them are likewise threatened with extinction.
So-called coccoliths, or calcareous algae belonging to the oceanic plankton, are also threatened by acidification. They occur at the beginning of the food chain and are thus an important constituent of the worldwide food network. Like ground floor of a house of cards, they support all the upper storeys. Remove them and the whole house will collapse.
Learn more about the topic in our blog with Dr. Peter Brewer from Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and read more about acidifcation of our oceans or visit the website of the acidification network.
Ocean and Climate
In autumn 2008 a group of scientists met in Monaco to discuss the effects of marine acidification. Its disastrous consequences for the oceans and humankind, which are already manifesting themselves, were reason enough for the scientists to couple their report with an urgent appeal to all politicians and decision-makers to build a bridge between economists and scientists, the object being to compare the socio-economic consequences and costs that would accrue if we took immediate action with the consequences of inaction.
We have responded to that call and are currently sponsoring a study with the working title ‘Climate Change and Ocean’, which is examining those very consequences. Our study is more extensive and, in addition to marine acidification, embraces other aspects of climate change such as oxygen deficiency, noise pollution, and the rise in the sea level.
Beyond this, we regard our study as an amplification of the Stern Review Report, which describes the socio-economic consequences and costs of climate change in reference to the land, but without including the oceans.
Learn more about our sponsored study, read the Stern Review Report and the Monaco Declaration 2008.