OCEAN ACIDIFICATION: A HELL FOR THE SHELL?!

• Main Author: Stemmer, Kristina
• Other Authors: Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung = Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research = Institut Alfred-Wegener pour la recherche polaire et marine (AWI), Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft = Helmholtz Association
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2010
• Subjects: [SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://hal.univ-brest.fr/hal-00502908

participant Besides ocean warming, marine calcifying organisms have to deal with another CO2 problem: Ocean acidification. Increasing atmospheric CO2 gets absorbed by the ocean and alters seawater carbonate chemistry. Surface ocean pH already dropped about 0.1 units since the pre-industrial values and the consequent decrease in calcium carbonate saturation potentially threatens shell formation. Oceans pH is expected to become another 0.3 - 0.4 units lower until the end of this century. Synergistic effects of temperature and CO2 on carbonate shell properties will be tested on bivalve mollusks in controlled perturbation experiments.