The oceans are turning acid. They already absorbed 400 billion tons of fossil fuel CO2 with serious impacts on plankton, shell fish and coral reefs. On land animals and plants are on the move everywhere to escape from warming.
Thanks to the Hadley Center in Exeter, UK, for making the tapes of a conference on the dangers of climate change available
Scientist have recently discovered that about half of the man made carbon dioxide produced by fossil fuel burning has been absorbed by the oceans. CO2 reacts with sea water to form carbonic acid and that lowers the ph level of the water and makes the oceans more acidic. Today the ph level of the oceans is already 0.1 unit lower than before the industrial revolution. These changes are accelerating the extinction of marine life from plankton to cods and coral reefs.
Dr. Carol Turley, head of science of the Plymouth Marine Laboratory, talks about the impact of the increasing acidification of the world's oceans. She said that the ph level of the oceans has remained incredibly constant for thousands, if not millions of years. Now about 400 billion tons of fossil fuel CO2 have been absorbed by the oceans
Professor Rik Leemans from the Environmental Sciences Department of Wageningen University in Holland directs projects on global biodiversity. He presents studies of birds, fish, insects, and plants from lichen to pine trees and their struggle for survival under global changes in growing seasons and distribution.
Animals and plants are on the move everywhere. They try to move north or up mountains to avoid warming or they follow the warming trends if they benefit from warm weather. Changes in the oceans are especially fast. Some plankton species have already moved north by up to 1000 kilometers. Some warm-water fish are moving into the warming seas at a rate of 250 kilometers every 10 years. Extinction rates are high among those unable to move and among those who no longer find the other species they depend on in the new environment.
This is number five of six half hour programs on the dangers of climate change, recent research on the warming of the Antarctic and Greenland, on risks to the ocean currents, such as the Gulf Stream, and to plants and animals. Thanks to the staff of the Hadley Center in Exeter, England, for making the recordings of that extraordinary conference available.
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