The Science of Ocean Acidification
Launch library · evergreen read
Oceans absorb a substantial share of the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere, and when that gas dissolves in seawater it forms carbonic acid, gradually lowering the water's pH. This process, known as ocean acidification, is a direct chemical consequence of rising atmospheric carbon dioxide rather than a separate problem.
The change matters most to organisms that build shells or skeletons from calcium carbonate, such as corals, oysters and some plankton species. As acidity increases, the chemical building blocks these creatures rely on become harder to access, which can slow growth or weaken shell structure over time.
Because many of these organisms sit near the base of marine food webs, effects on them can ripple upward to species that depend on them for food, including fish stocks that people rely on. Ocean acidification is often described as climate change's lesser known companion, unfolding gradually and mostly out of sight. Unlike a visible oil spill or a smoky sky, its effects are measured in laboratories and shellfish hatcheries long before most people would ever notice a change themselves.