Ocean Acidification

The uptake of anthropogenic carbon since colonial times has resulted in an average decrease in seawater pH of 0.1 units. Increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations will exacerbate this acidification as dissolved CO2 levels (and consequently H2CO3 levels) rise. Projections based on the IPCC Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) show a reduction in average global surface ocean pH of between 0.14 and 0.35 units over the 21st century, which would be a doubling of H+ ions. (Fields et al. 1993; IPCC 2007)

Fields, P. A., J. B. Graham, R. H. Rosenblatt, and G. N. Somero. 1993. Effects of expected global climate change on marine faunas. Twenty years of TREE - part I 8:361-367.

IPCC. 2007. Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in M.L. Parry, O.F. Canziani, J.P. Palutikof, P.J. van der Linden, and C.E.Hanson, editors, Cambridge, UK.