Evidence Found That Ocean Acidification is Dissolving Pteropod Shells off U.S. West Coast

PMEL carbon scientists Drs. Nina Bednarsek and Richard Feely were part of a NOAA-led team to find the first evidence that acidity of continental shelf waters off the West Coast dissolving the shells of pteropods.  Their research, published April 30 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, estimates that the percentage of pteropods in this region with dissolving shells due to ocean acidification has doubled since the pre-industrial era and is on track to triple by 2050 when coastal waters become 70 more corrosive due to human-caused ocean acidification.

Read more on the NOAA press release and the PMEL Carbon Group ocean acidification page.