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Covering Ocean Acidification: Chemistry and Considerations Marah Hardt and Carl Safina June 24, 2008 Changing ocean chemistry threatens the survival of marine life as much as warming temperatures. Understanding the basic chemistry of ocean acidification and the relevant consequences for people and wildlife are keys to effective journalism on an issue of growing importance and interest to media audiences.

Learn about the chemistry and biology behind our world's changing oceans, how humans are affecting our oceans, and what we can do to change it. See how increased carbon dioxide levels are changing ocean chemistry, and link chemistry to biology by examining the impacts of ocean acidification on marine organisms.

Ocean Acification Simulation Ocean AcidificationI developed this Carbonate Simulation to enables students and teachers to visualize how changes in atmospheric temperature and carbon dioxide concentrations may affect levels of carbon dioxide levels and related chemistry of the oceans. The applet uses coral reefs as an example of organisms that may be particularly affected by these changes in water chemistry.

Global warming…the Earth is steadily getting warmer. The why is it getting warmer question will solicit so many theories that it would drive one mad to sort through them all. Global warming itself is sort of a misnomer; it is a symptom of the problem, not the cause. The cause for all the debate is whether or not the atmospheric increase of CO2 gas over the last two-hundred years has affected the Earth's climate. Recently scientists have discovered another reason to be concerned about the increasing level of atmospheric CO2. It is startling that the media and science has hardly touched upon ocean acidification. It would not be surprising if you have never heard this term. A LexisNexis search of the news wire services found in the past week there were 348 articles that mentioned global warming. Three articles contained ocean acidification. In the last 2 years, a LexisNexis search of all sources found a mere 216 articles that mentioned ocean acidification. That is a worldwide search of newspapers, magazines and wire services. The New York Times did not mention it a single time, but they ran so many Global Warming articles that there were too many matches for the page to display.

"Spatial diversity gradients are a pervasive feature of life on Earth. We examined a global ocean circulation, biogeochemistry, and ecosystem model that indicated a decrease in phytoplankton diversity with increasing latitude, consistent with observations of many marine and terrestrial taxa. In the modeled subpolar oceans, seasonal variability of the environment led to competitive exclusion of phytoplankton with slower growth rates and lower diversity. The relatively weak seasonality of the stable subtropical and tropical oceans in the global model enabled long exclusion time scales and prolonged coexistence of multiple phytoplankton with comparable fitness. Superimposed on the decline in diversity seen from equator to pole were "hot spots" of enhanced diversity in some regions of energetic ocean circulation, which reflected lateral dispersal. "

Key Findings Current Coastal Management Challenges Current coastal management challenges are worsening. Top management challenges will be exacerbated by climate change. Current management challenges make adaptation planning and decision-making difficult. Climate Change Concerns, Knowledge, and Actions Attitudes and knowledge about climate change are strongly supportive of adaptation action. Attention to adaptation has increased markedly over the past five years. Adaptation planning and implementation is still in the very early stages. There is limited familiarity with innovative adaptation approaches. Information, Technical Assistance, and Training Needs Organizational missions, job responsibilities, and legal requirements shape common information use. Ease of access to information is the overriding determinant of information use. Specific information needs differ by professional group. Critical opportunities exist to meet coastal professionals' information, technical assistance, and training needs Survey Background Decision-makers in California's (CA) coastal counties recognize that climate change will impact their communities and coastline. Yet, coastal CA communities are at different stages in developing and/or implementing climate change adaptation plans. During the Summer of 2012, USC Sea Grant, in partnership with 14 other CA-based organizations (listed below), launched a survey to understand the needs and barriers coastal communities have in planning for climate change in order to develop appropriate trainings and technical assistance for communities and determine the best way to link communities to resources and tools already available. Survey Partners USC Sea Grant California Sea Grant Center for Ocean Solutions, Stanford University California Nevada Applications Program (CNAP) at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego through the NOAA Regional Integrat

"Some of the planet's most beautiful and diverse ecosystems are at risk. With temperatures on the rise, coral reefs are at greater risk for coral bleaching. Using ocean observing system data from NOAA's National Data Buoy Center, this classroom activity examines ocean temperatures off Puerto Rico to see how coral reefs are being impacted and predict what's on the horizon. Brought to you by Sea Grant's Bridge website and COSEE-NOW. This activity was developed in response to the 2005 massive coral bleaching event in the Caribbean caused by high sea surface temperatures. Using ocean observing system data, water temperatures can be monitored to evaluate the likeliness of other bleaching events. Via the COSEE-NOW online community, we were able to receive valuable feedback on making the graph of water temperature more user-friendly and expanding the discussion questions to evoke some higher level thinking from students. This activity has been demonstrated to teachers at the National Marine Educators Association conference and Virginia Sea Grant professional development institutes; and to graduate students in several different settings. http://www2.vims.edu/bridge/DATA.cfm?Bridge_Location=archive0406.html"

Webcast: 'We Sea Change,' a Climate Change Education Video 0 What is climate change, and how is it affecting coastal Carolina? That is the question that a group of teens from Isaac Bear Early College High School set out to answer for their Third National Student Summit on the Ocean & Coasts project. Representing the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher, four teens spent months researching climate change issues such as salt water intrusion in rivers, changes to barrier islands, disappearing beaches, and habitat loss in longleaf pine forests in the Wilmington, N.C., region. The students presented a video documenting this research during the National Student Summit on February 15, 2011 at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. After the Summit, the team broadened the project's scope to include climate change education through the production of a second video. This film, We Sea Change, aims to give their local community in Wilmington an understanding of climate change, impacts on the coastal Carolina region, and how people can be part of the climate change solution. We Sea Change will be broadcast live to the Ocean Portal from the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher on Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 7pm. There will be a panel discussion on climate change immediately following the 7pm screening. Meet the team! The Cape Fear Beach Bears: Sandy Paws for a Cause team members include students Jessica Lama, Keela Sweeney, Evan Lucas, and Dustin Chambers. They have conducted research and produced their videos under the guidance of teachers Bryan Bishop from Isaac Bear Early College High School and Megan Ennes from the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher.

A new Rapid Response Assessment report released 14 October 2009 at the Diversitas Conference, Cape Town Conference Centre, South Africa. Compiled by experts at GRID-Arendal and UNEP in collaboration with the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the UNESCO International Oceanographic Commissions and other institutions, the report highlights the critical role of the oceans and ocean ecosystems in maintaining our climate and in assisting policy makers to mainstream an oceans agenda into national and international climate change initiatives

"Study assesses nations' vulnerabilities to reduced mollusk harvests from ocean acidification August 2, 2011 Changes in ocean chemistry due to increased carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are expected to damage shellfish populations around the world, but some nations will feel the impacts much sooner and more intensely than others, according to a study by scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)."

Wonderful student trips available to and starting from the Ocean Institute in Dana Point. Go learn some current ocean science that is aligned to the science standards!

Legacy site of The national Office for Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS)

Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI)

Warming and Melting Mass loss from the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica account for a large fraction of global sea-level rise. Part of this loss is because of the effects of warmer air temperatures, and another because of the rising ocean temperatures to which they are being exposed. Joughin et al. (p. 1172) review how ocean-ice interactions are impacting ice sheets and discuss the possible ways that exposure of floating ice shelves and grounded ice margins are subject to the influences of warming ocean currents. Estimates of the mass balance of the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica have differed greatly-in some cases, not even agreeing about whether there is a net loss or a net gain-making it more difficult to project accurately future sea-level change. Shepherd et al. (p. 1183) combined data sets produced by satellite altimetry, interferometry, and gravimetry to construct a more robust ice-sheet mass balance for the period between 1992 and 2011. All major regions of the two ice sheets appear to be losing mass, except for East Antarctica. All told, mass loss from the polar ice sheets is contributing about 0.6 millimeters per year (roughly 20% of the total) to the current rate of global sea-level rise.

"Published Online September 22 2011 Science 28 October 2011: Vol. 334 no. 6055 pp. 505-509 DOI: 10.1126/science.1206583 Report Increasing N Abundance in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean Due to Atmospheric Nitrogen Deposition Tae-Wook Kim1, Kitack Lee1,*, Raymond G. Najjar2, Hee-Dong Jeong3, Hae Jin Jeong4 + Author Affiliations 1School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Pohang, 790−784, Korea. 2Department of Meteorology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA. 3East Sea Fisheries Research Institute, National Fisheries Research and Development Institute, Gangneung, 210-861, Korea. 4School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, 151−747, Korea. ↵*To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: ktl@postech.ac.kr Abstract The relative abundance of nitrate (N) over phosphorus (P) has increased over the period since 1980 in the marginal seas bordering the northwestern Pacific Ocean, located downstream of the populated and industrialized Asian continent. The increase in N availability within the study area was mainly driven by increasing N concentrations and was most likely due to deposition of pollutant nitrogen from atmospheric sources. Atmospheric nitrogen deposition had a high temporal correlation with N availability in the study area (r = 0.74 to 0.88), except in selected areas wherein riverine nitrogen load may be of equal importance. The increase in N availability caused by atmospheric deposition and riverine input has switched extensive parts of the study area from being N-limited to P-limited. "

Deep Earth Academy Teaching for Science - Learning for Life Deep Earth Academy facilitates and develops programs and materials based on scientific ocean drilling expeditions and Earth Systems Science to strengthen students' science, mathematics, and analytical skills. Our approach includes use of authentic data, inquiry-centered activities and interdisciplinary explorations drawing from the adventures of the JOIDES Resolution ship and the earlier ocean drilling ship; the Glomar Challenger.

The Inter-Academy Panel on International Issues (or IAP) has today launched a statement signed by 100 of the world's leading science academies calling for ocean acidification to be placed on the agenda for the UNFCCC talks being held in Bonn over the next two weeks.