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A Changing Ocean

September 1, 2012

In early August, WHOI marine chemist Sarah Cooley spoke at a public event on ocean acidification, which she calls “a side effect of industrialization.”  As the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide has risen, in part due to increased burning of fossil fuels, so has the pH of seawater. Cooley uses numerical models to determine how, where, and when the consequences of these changes, already underway, could be a problematic within marine ecosystems, especially to people who rely on these systems for food, jobs, and recreation.(Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)