Ocean

AcidificationSummary for

Policymakers 2013

International Geosphere-Biosphere

Programme

Intergovernmental Oceanographic

Commission of UNESCO

Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research

Wendy Broadgate, IGBP Deputy Director (2014)

• 26 % increase in acidity due to CO2

emissions

• Many organisms show adverse effects

(corals, molluscs)

• Some thrive (e.g. seagrasses)

• Ecosystems will change in the future

• There will be socio-economic impacts

and need for adaptation

• Reducing CO2 emissions will reduce

impacts

pH 1850

pH 2100

Aragonite saturation 1850

Aragonite saturation 2100

Commercially important organisms

After Peters et al., 2013

Observed CO2 emissions and

emissions scenarios to 2100

Confidence levels (IPCC)

iStockhphoto.com/ermingut

Atmospheric CO2 and ocean pH

After Bopp et al., 2013

3.2°–5.4°C

Global

temperature

increase likely

by 2100:

0.9°–2.3°C

Ocean surface pH projections to 2100

Turley et al., 2006

Rapid ocean acidification

Jason Hall-Spencer

Winners and losers

Hot, sour and breathless

Molluscs

iStockphoto.com/Eduardo Luzzatti

Coral Reefs

iStockphoto.com/t.light

Changes in marine ecosystems

iStockphoto.com/Richard Carey

Calcifying organisms

Ulf Riebesell; GEOMAR

Marine snails

Steve Ringman

Fish behaviour

Nitrogen fixation stimulated

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/USGS)

Economic losses

iStockphoto.com/Thomas Bradford

Economic losses

Fisheries

Biogeochemical cycles

www.ocean-acidification.net

IGBP, IOC, SCOR (2013). Ocean Acidification Summary for Policymakers – Third Symposium on the

Ocean in a High-CO2 World. International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, Stockholm, Sweden.

Authors

Wendy Broadgate, IGBP

Ulf Riebesell, Germany

Claire Armstrong, Norway

Peter Brewer, USA

Ken Denman, Canada

Richard Feely, USA

Kunshan Gao, China

Jean-Pierre Gattuso, France

Kirsten Isensee, IOC-UNESCO

Joan Kleypas, USA

Dan Laffoley, UK

James Orr, France

Hans-Otto Pörtner, Germany

Carlos Eduardo de Rezende, Brazil

Daniela Schmidt, UK

Ed Urban, SCOR

Anya Waite, Australia

Luis Valdés, IOC-UNESCO

Wendy Broadgate, IGBP Deputy Director (2014)

wendy@igbp.kva.se

www.ocean-acidification.net