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DCL

Let's go to Science Daily for the chemistry: "Ocean acidification is linearly related to the amount of CO2 we produce. CO2 dissolves in the ocean, reacts with seawater and decreases the pH. Since the industrial revolution, the oceans have become 30 percent more acidic (from 8.2 pH to 8.1 pH)."

Ocean-Acidification.net adds: "The ocean absorbs approximately one third of the CO2 emitted to the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels. However, this valuable service comes at a steep ecological cost—the acidification of the ocean. As CO2 dissolves in seawater, the pH of the water decreases, which is called 'acidification.'"

This increase in ocean acidification has prompted some dire predictions. "Ocean acidification is more rapid than ever in the history of the earth and if you look at the pCO2 (partial pressure of carbon dioxide) levels we have reached now, you have to go back 35 million years in time to find the equivalents" said Jelle Bijma, chair of the EuroCLIMATE programme Scientific Committee and a biogeochemist at the Alfred-Wegener-Institute Bremerhaven.

Methods of countering this trend have been suggested but, as if usually the case, it begins with addressing the underlying problem of climate change.

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