Is the Breathing of the World’s Ocean Choking Marine Life?
Dr. Chris Sabine presents a seminar on ocean acidification as a part of the “Climate Science 101″ short course sponsored jointly by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), at George Mason University, and NOAA.
Humans currently release about 70 million tons of carbon dioxide every day into the atmosphere and about 20 million tons is being absorbed regularly by the oceans. Scientists monitoring the world’s oceans have observed a substantial increase in the acidity of seawater due to the increasing absorption of human-emitted carbon dioxide. Using present-day emission scenarios, we could see a further increase in acidity of another 150 to 200 percent in this century. This session reviews ongoing impacts of acidification on marine ecology and projections of likely future impacts on marine life if this trend continues.
The presenters in this series were selected for their subject matter expertise. Their views and opinions are their own and don’t necessarily represent those of OLLI and NOAA.
