Climate change drives rapid decadal acidification in the Arctic Ocean from 1994 to 2020
The Arctic Ocean has experienced rapid warming and sea ice loss in recent decades, becoming the first open-ocean basin to experience widespread aragonite undersaturation [saturation state of aragonite (Ω arag ) < 1]. However, its trend toward long-term ocean acidification and the underlying mecha...
Published in: | Science |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
2022
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abo0383 https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.abo0383 |
id |
craaas:10.1126/science.abo0383 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
craaas:10.1126/science.abo0383 2024-10-13T14:04:39+00:00 Climate change drives rapid decadal acidification in the Arctic Ocean from 1994 to 2020 Qi, Di Ouyang, Zhangxian Chen, Liqi Wu, Yingxu Lei, Ruibo Chen, Baoshan Feely, Richard A. Anderson, Leif G. Zhong, Wenli Lin, Hongmei Polukhin, Alexander Zhang, Yixing Zhang, Yongli Bi, Haibo Lin, Xinyu Luo, Yiming Zhuang, Yanpei He, Jianfeng Chen, Jianfang Cai, Wei-Jun 2022 http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abo0383 https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.abo0383 en eng American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science volume 377, issue 6614, page 1544-1550 ISSN 0036-8075 1095-9203 journal-article 2022 craaas https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abo0383 2024-09-19T04:01:19Z The Arctic Ocean has experienced rapid warming and sea ice loss in recent decades, becoming the first open-ocean basin to experience widespread aragonite undersaturation [saturation state of aragonite (Ω arag ) < 1]. However, its trend toward long-term ocean acidification and the underlying mechanisms remain undocumented. Here, we report rapid acidification there, with rates three to four times higher than in other ocean basins, and attribute it to changing sea ice coverage on a decadal time scale. Sea ice melt exposes seawater to the atmosphere and promotes rapid uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide, lowering its alkalinity and buffer capacity and thus leading to sharp declines in pH and Ω arag . We predict a further decrease in pH, particularly at higher latitudes where sea ice retreat is active, whereas Arctic warming may counteract decreases in Ω arag in the future. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Ocean Climate change Ocean acidification Sea ice AAAS Resource Center (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Arctic Arctic Ocean Science 377 6614 1544 1550 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
AAAS Resource Center (American Association for the Advancement of Science) |
op_collection_id |
craaas |
language |
English |
description |
The Arctic Ocean has experienced rapid warming and sea ice loss in recent decades, becoming the first open-ocean basin to experience widespread aragonite undersaturation [saturation state of aragonite (Ω arag ) < 1]. However, its trend toward long-term ocean acidification and the underlying mechanisms remain undocumented. Here, we report rapid acidification there, with rates three to four times higher than in other ocean basins, and attribute it to changing sea ice coverage on a decadal time scale. Sea ice melt exposes seawater to the atmosphere and promotes rapid uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide, lowering its alkalinity and buffer capacity and thus leading to sharp declines in pH and Ω arag . We predict a further decrease in pH, particularly at higher latitudes where sea ice retreat is active, whereas Arctic warming may counteract decreases in Ω arag in the future. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Qi, Di Ouyang, Zhangxian Chen, Liqi Wu, Yingxu Lei, Ruibo Chen, Baoshan Feely, Richard A. Anderson, Leif G. Zhong, Wenli Lin, Hongmei Polukhin, Alexander Zhang, Yixing Zhang, Yongli Bi, Haibo Lin, Xinyu Luo, Yiming Zhuang, Yanpei He, Jianfeng Chen, Jianfang Cai, Wei-Jun |
spellingShingle |
Qi, Di Ouyang, Zhangxian Chen, Liqi Wu, Yingxu Lei, Ruibo Chen, Baoshan Feely, Richard A. Anderson, Leif G. Zhong, Wenli Lin, Hongmei Polukhin, Alexander Zhang, Yixing Zhang, Yongli Bi, Haibo Lin, Xinyu Luo, Yiming Zhuang, Yanpei He, Jianfeng Chen, Jianfang Cai, Wei-Jun Climate change drives rapid decadal acidification in the Arctic Ocean from 1994 to 2020 |
author_facet |
Qi, Di Ouyang, Zhangxian Chen, Liqi Wu, Yingxu Lei, Ruibo Chen, Baoshan Feely, Richard A. Anderson, Leif G. Zhong, Wenli Lin, Hongmei Polukhin, Alexander Zhang, Yixing Zhang, Yongli Bi, Haibo Lin, Xinyu Luo, Yiming Zhuang, Yanpei He, Jianfeng Chen, Jianfang Cai, Wei-Jun |
author_sort |
Qi, Di |
title |
Climate change drives rapid decadal acidification in the Arctic Ocean from 1994 to 2020 |
title_short |
Climate change drives rapid decadal acidification in the Arctic Ocean from 1994 to 2020 |
title_full |
Climate change drives rapid decadal acidification in the Arctic Ocean from 1994 to 2020 |
title_fullStr |
Climate change drives rapid decadal acidification in the Arctic Ocean from 1994 to 2020 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Climate change drives rapid decadal acidification in the Arctic Ocean from 1994 to 2020 |
title_sort |
climate change drives rapid decadal acidification in the arctic ocean from 1994 to 2020 |
publisher |
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abo0383 https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.abo0383 |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Climate change Ocean acidification Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Climate change Ocean acidification Sea ice |
op_source |
Science volume 377, issue 6614, page 1544-1550 ISSN 0036-8075 1095-9203 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abo0383 |
container_title |
Science |
container_volume |
377 |
container_issue |
6614 |
container_start_page |
1544 |
op_container_end_page |
1550 |
_version_ |
1812810024096890880 |