Aquarium lecture series: Ocean acidification – Implications for west coast ecosystems

Event Description

Guest lecturer Dr. Richard Feely will discuss the present and future implications of increased temperature and CO2 levels as they relate to the health of our West Coast ocean ecosystems. He will also conduct a live demonstration of ocean acidification.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is one of the most important “greenhouse” gases in the atmosphere affecting the radiative heat balance of the Earth. As a direct result of the industrial and agricultural activities of humans over the past two centuries, atmospheric CO2 concentrations have increased by about 100 parts per million.

The atmospheric concentration of CO2 is now higher than experienced on Earth for at least the last 800,000 years and is expected to continue to rise. This will lead to significant temperature increases in the atmosphere and ocean by the end of this century. The global ocean is the largest natural long-term reservoir for this excess heat and CO2. It absorbs approximately 85 percent of the heat and 30 percent of the anthropogenic (human-sourced) carbon released into the atmosphere since the beginning of the industrial era.

Method of performing in situ calibrated potentiometric pH measurements

A device for the precise and accurate potentiometric pH measurements in situ. Embodiments of a potentiometric device according to the invention consist of one or more glass pH-sensitive electrodes connected to a potentiometer. A key feature of the device is that, rather than being calibrated conventionally with buffers, it can be calibrated with an in situ device that measures pH spectrophotometrically. Spectrophotometric pH measurements obtained via sulfonephthalein absorbance measurements are inherently calibrated (do not require buffers). Thus, devices according to the invention allow for continuous potentiometric pH measurements with occasional spectrophotometric calibrations. The spectrophotometric calibration device consists of a spectrophotometer with associated pumps for combining a sulfonephthalein pH indicator with the aqueous medium whose pH is to be measured. The device will record potentiometric pH measurements for an extended period of time until the spectrophotometric device is autonomously activated for another calibration. In this manner precise and accurate pH measurements can be obtained continuously in the environment, and the low energy expenditure of the potentiometric device provides excellent endurance. Also provided is a method and associated devices for spectrophotometrically determining the salinity of an aqueous medium.

Application of potentiometric method using a cell without liquid junction to underway pH Measurements in surface seawater

This study evaluated a method to carry out underway pH measurements of surface seawater by means of a cell without liquid junction using glass electrodes for hydrogen and sodium ions as follows:

The Pitzer method was used as the theoretical basis for the calibration of the above cell and calculations of the pH in total hydrogen concentration scale. It was shown that abovementioned cell has long-term stability and can be calibrated only once a day. A buffer solution, TRIS·HCl-TRIS-NaCl-H₂O, is recommended for calibration. This approach has been applied to a cruise in the Sea of Okhotsk on the R/V Akademik M.A.Lavrentyev during September and October 2007.

OCB OA subcommittee welcomes new members

Six new members have joined the OCB OA subcommittee, and they bring a range of scientific expertise and organizational talents to the OA subcommittee:

Andreas Andersson (BIOS/SIO) – A geochemist who studies global environmental change owing to both natural and anthropogenic processes, with
emphases on marine CO2 and carbonate geochemistry and on ocean acidification’s effects on marine calcifiers and coral reefs, calcium carbonate mineral dissolution, and sediment composition.

Rusty Brainard (NOAA PIFSC) – Originally a physical oceanographer, Rusty now performs interdisciplinary and integrated ecosystem observations of coral reef ecosystems across the Pacific Islands and has a particular interest in spatial and temporal changes of reef ecosystems and biodiversity in response to climate change and ocean acidification.

Gretchen Hofmann (UCSB) – A metazoan-focused ecophysiologist who broadly focuses on understanding the role of temperature and oceanographic features on marine species’ distributions, and who also employs genomic and traditional biological methods to assess species responses.

Jeremy Mathis (UAF) – A carbon and nitrogen biogeochemist using classical biogeochemical methods to examine ecosystem function in various regions, particularly the Arctic Ocean, the Bering Sea, and the Gulf of Alaska, with special emphasis on human/ocean and land/ocean interactions.

Taro Takahashi (LDEO) - A geochemist who seeks to understand the fate of industrial CO2 emissions by examining CO2 cycling through the oceans and atmosphere and by examining the behavior of the oceanic CO2 sink over time.

Carol Turley (PML) – Originally a microbial biogeochemist, Carol focuses on communicating the possible holistic impacts of ocean acidification, including OA’s economic and policy consequences; Carol is also deeply involved in international OA organizations including EPOCA, the SOLAS-IMBER Ocean Acidification Working Group, and the UK Ocean Acidification Research Program.

Coup d’oeil sur la Planète avec Sophie Brems “Le projet Epoca” (audio; in French)

OCB hosts first meeting for ocean acidification researchers

Ocean acidification research is growing by leaps and bounds, both in the United States and abroad. One of the greatest challenges facing this fast growing community of researchers is simply to know– Who’s who? What’s happening? Where? Who’s looking for collaborators? What obstacles should the community tackle first?

To begin answering these questions and coordinating the ocean acidification (OA) research community in the United States, the OCB-OA subcommittee and the OCB Project Office held a three-day meeting for OA researchers in March (www.whoi.edu/workshops/OAPI2011). With significant help from NSF, NOAA, NASA, USGS, EPA, and Navy program managers, OCB identified representatives from almost all OA research projects supported by these U.S. agencies to invite to this meeting. Attendees included ecologists, paleoceanographers, instrumentation specialists, chemists, biologists of all types, socioeconomists, modelers, and communications specialists.