What is Ocean Acidification

What is ocean acidification? Oceans cover more than two-thirds of our planet. We have a lot to thank them for. They provide food for more than a billion people, and tiny plankton produce up to half the oxygen in the air we breathe. Oceans are our biggest carbon store, too. Ocean-dwelling organisms absorb nearly a third of the carbon dioxide we emit, helping to limit global warming. Absorbing all this carbon dioxide comes at a cost to the oceans. When the gas dissolves in water, it reacts, forming carbonic acid. In the last 200 years, oceans have become 30% more acidic, and scientists predict ocean acidity will continue to increase as carbon dioxide levels rise. This is dangerous for marine life. Acidic waters dissolve the chemicals shellfish need to make their shells, threatening species like clams, sea butterflies and some plankton. Losing these crucial species will have knock-on effects on the species that eat them, forcing them to change their diets and affecting their growth and reproduction. Coral reefs, ecosystems so diverse that some call them the rainforests of the oceans, are suffering, too. Acidification, along with warming ocean temperatures and rising sea levels, could destroy much of the world's coral reefs by the year 2100. Unless we act, ocean acidity will continue to increase at a rate that has not been seen for at least 400,000 years. Such a monumental change in ocean chemistry will wreak havoc on the marine life on which we deeply depend.