30 news posts related to Ocean Acidification

Return to News

Nanometer-scale image reveals new details about formation of marine shells

This foraminifera is just starting to form its adult spherical shell. The calcium carbonate spherical shell first forms on a thin organic template, shown here in white, around the dark juvenile skeleton. Calcium carbonate spines then extend from the juvenile skeleton through the new sphere and outward. The bright flecks are algae that the foraminifera “farm” for sustenance.

Unseen out in the ocean, countless single-celled organisms grow protective shells to keep them safe as they drift along, living off other tiny marine plants and animals. Taken together, the shells are so plentiful that when they sink they provide one of the best records for the history of ocean chemistry. Oceanographers at the University of Washington, the University of California, Davis and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have used modern tools to provide an atomic-scale look at how that shell first forms. 

Read more at UW Today »

West Coast study emphasizes challenges faced by marine organisms exposed to global change

Washington’s northwest coast.

The Pacific Ocean along the West Coast serves as a model for how other areas of the ocean could respond in coming decades as the climate warms and emission of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide increases. This region—the coastal ocean stretching from British Columbia to Mexico—provides an early warning signal of what to expect as ocean acidification continues and as low-oxygen zones expand. 

Read more at UW Today »