I apologize for the lack of post yesterday; as Yves wrote yesterday, we had a terrible time getting registered for the conference! (I didn’t get in until 1:30, and I was one of the lucky ones.)
Today we had the pleasure of meeting Jane Lubchenco, Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, and Administrator of NOAA. She invited us to attend her and her colleague’s session on the impacts of climate change for oceans and ecosystems. It was the first science based lecture I attended (most of mine have been focused on global poverty… will blog about it soon!), and quite frankly, the most depressing.
While science lectures don’t offer the policy, financial or commercial strategies to mitigating or adapting to climate change, they do motivate you to action! If you have not heard about ocean acidification and its effects on the marine ecosystems, take a moment to research it. I won’t go into much detail other than to offer some highlights from the lecture.
NOAA has documented large expansions of the oceans least productive areas over the last decade; areas of very low oxygen content which is highly toxic to marine life. Coral reefs are also extremely temperature sensitive, yet provide habitat for many species and economic resources to humans. So far the oceans have acted as a net carbon sink, absorbing approximately a quarter of our emissions. However, there is evidence that as the oceans acidify, their buffering capacity will diminish (the 1+1=3 reference). Indeed, for parts of the year in the Arctic, seasonal patches of relatively high acidity water has appeared. Scientists predict that in patches as these, oceans could become so acidic as to literally dissolve the shells of marine creatures such as crustaceans, larval shellfish, crustal coralline algae, and pteropods (see below). Economically, we should care because 1/2 of the total economic value of the US fishing industry is based on shellfish.
If the facts don’t sway you, maybe warm and fuzzy feeling will. I’d never heard of “sea angels” (pteropods) before the lecture, but after seeing a video of one in action, they’ve become yet another face of climate change for me. These incredibly cute creatures play an extremely important role as the “potato chip” of the sea; they provide an essential role in the food chain for the entire ocean.