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Arctic Ocean acid 'will dissolve shells of sea creatures
within 10 years'
The Arctic Ocean is becoming acidic so quickly that it will reach corrosive levels within 10
years, a leading scientist has warned.
By Matthew Moore (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/matthew-moore/)
Published: 4:33PM BST 04 Oct 2009
Waters around the North Pole are absorbing carbon dioxide at such a rate that they will soon start dissolving
the shells of living sea creatures.
The potentially disastrous consequences for the food chain have been highlighted by Professor Jean-Pierre
Gattuso of the National Centre for Scientific Research in France.
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His team of oceanographers have produced startling predictions about the acidity of the Arctic Ocean after
research carried out on the Svalbard archipelago, a group of islands half way between Norway and the North
Pole, revealed that the problem is more advanced than scientists thought.
Their forecasts suggest that by 2018, 10 per cent of the ocean will be corrosively acidic, rising to 50 per cent
in 2050. By 2100 the entire Arctic Ocean will be inhospitable to shellfish, they predict.
"This is extremely worrying," Prof Gattuso told the Oceans of Tomorrow conference in Barcelona.
"We knew that the seas were getting more acidic and this would disrupt the ability of shellfish – like mussels –
to grow their shells. But now we realise the situation is much worse."
One of the most vulnerable creatures is likely to be the mollusc Limacina helicina, which seabirds, whales and
several species of fish rely on for food.
The process of acidification – by which carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere as pollution is absorbed by
water and converted into carbonic acid – is taking places in seas and oceans across the world.
But the prognosis is particularly bleak in the polar regions because the gas is more soluble in cold water than
hot water.
"Over the whole planet, there will be a threefold increase in the average acidity of the oceans, which is
unprecedented during the past 20 million years," Prof Gattuso said
"That level of acidification will cause immense damage to the ecosystem and the food chain, particularly in the
Arctic."
Prof Gattuso told the conference that hi-tech proposals for limiting the extent of climate change would have no
affect on reducing the acidity of the oceans, and urged immediate action to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
"Scientists have proposed all sorts of geo-engineering solutions to global warming. For instance, they have
proposed spraying the upper atmosphere with aerosol particles that would reduce sunlight reaching the Earth,
mitigating the warming caused by rising levels of carbon dioxide," he said.
"But these ideas miss the point. They will still allow carbon dioxide emissions to continue to increase – and
thus the oceans to become more and more acidic.
"There is only one way to stop the devastation the oceans are now facing and that is to limit carbon-dioxide
emissions as a matter of urgency."
The increasing acidity of the Arctic Ocean may have a direct impact on the marine life of the British Isles, as
the Lophelia pertusa coral responsible for creating reefs off the coast of Scotland is killed off.
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