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The Rapid Pickling Of The World’s Oceans Affects More Than Just Shellfish [View all]
The Rapid Pickling Of The World’s Oceans Affects More Than Just Shellfish
BY JOANNA M. FOSTER ON NOVEMBER 14, 2013 AT 1:14 PM
Hot and sour might be a delicious combination if you’re ordering soup in a Vietnamese restaurant, but when it comes to the world’s oceans, hot and sour is a deadly and destructive duo.
According to research just released by a panel of over 500 of the world’s leading experts on ocean acidification, increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are acidifying the oceans at an “unprecedented rate, faster than at any time in the last 300 million years. Since the start of the industrial revolution, oceans have become 26% more acidic.
By 2100, ocean acidification is predicted to increase by 170 percent if current rates of greenhouse gas emissions continue. More acidic water will make the oceans unlivable for about 30 percent of ocean species. About one quarter of annual CO2 emissions from human activities currently end up in the ocean, or about 24 million tons of CO2 every day.
Some of the species most at risk are mollusks like oysters and clams, and corals, but any species that needs a hard shell to survive may be affected. Oyster farmers in the Northwest are already seeing the impact. The global cost of the decline in mollusks could be $130 billion by 2100.
Coral reefs are already imperiled by warming oceans which cause coral bleaching...
BY JOANNA M. FOSTER ON NOVEMBER 14, 2013 AT 1:14 PM
Hot and sour might be a delicious combination if you’re ordering soup in a Vietnamese restaurant, but when it comes to the world’s oceans, hot and sour is a deadly and destructive duo.
According to research just released by a panel of over 500 of the world’s leading experts on ocean acidification, increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are acidifying the oceans at an “unprecedented rate, faster than at any time in the last 300 million years. Since the start of the industrial revolution, oceans have become 26% more acidic.
By 2100, ocean acidification is predicted to increase by 170 percent if current rates of greenhouse gas emissions continue. More acidic water will make the oceans unlivable for about 30 percent of ocean species. About one quarter of annual CO2 emissions from human activities currently end up in the ocean, or about 24 million tons of CO2 every day.
Some of the species most at risk are mollusks like oysters and clams, and corals, but any species that needs a hard shell to survive may be affected. Oyster farmers in the Northwest are already seeing the impact. The global cost of the decline in mollusks could be $130 billion by 2100.
Coral reefs are already imperiled by warming oceans which cause coral bleaching...
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/11/14/2942311/ocean-acidification-marine-species/
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