Century-scale trends and seasonality in pH and temperature for shallow zones of the Bering Sea

Increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations are potentially affecting marine ecosystems twofold, by warming and acidification. The rising amount of CO2 taken up by the ocean lowers the saturation state of calcium carbonate, complicating the formation of this key biomineral used by many marine organism...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Main Authors: Fietzke, Jan, Ragazzola, Federica, Halfar, Jochen, Dietze, Heiner, Foster, Laura C., Hansteen, Thor Henrik, Eisenhauer, Anton, Steneck, Robert S.
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: National Academy of Sciences 2015
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Online Access:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4364235/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25713385
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1419216112
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Summary:Increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations are potentially affecting marine ecosystems twofold, by warming and acidification. The rising amount of CO2 taken up by the ocean lowers the saturation state of calcium carbonate, complicating the formation of this key biomineral used by many marine organisms to build hard parts like skeletons or shells. Reliable time-series data of seawater pH are needed to evaluate the ongoing change and compare long-term trends and natural variability. For the high-latitude ocean, the region facing the strongest CO2 uptake, such time-series data are so far entirely lacking. Our study provides, to our knowledge, the first reconstruction of seasonal cycle and long-term trend in pH for a high-latitude ocean obtained from 2D images of stable boron isotopes from a coralline alga.