Local factors cause dramatic spikes in coastal ocean acidity: Fluctuation 'adds insult to injury' for marine creatures
Thursday, January 2, 2014 - 16:00
in Earth & Climate
Seawater samples collected from the marine estuary Beaufort Inlet, N.C., weekly for a year and on a daily and hourly basis for shorter periods were used to track changes in pH and dissolved inorganic carbon. Short-term variability in acidity over one year exceeds 100-year global predictions for the ocean as a whole and may already be exerting added pressure on some of the estuary's organisms, particularly shelled organisms.