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EmailNote to media covering COP-15, “The Ocean: The critical and overlooked player in
climate change.” takes place 1:30 p.m., Dec. 14, in the Asger Jorn Room, Hall H,
Bella Center, Copenhagen.
Contact:
Robert Monroe, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
+1-858-699-6828, r.monroe@ucsd.edu
Arlo Hemphill, Center for Ocean Solutions at Stanford University
+1-202-746-3484, arlo@stanford.edu
Dec. 8, 2009
Researchers To Detail Climate Change Threats to Ocean Ecosystems and Coastal Communities
Stanford and Scripps Oceanography scientists discuss the latest research on how
greenhouse gas emissions are changing the oceans and posing risks to human
communities.
From coral reefs to polar regions, marine ecosystems are exhibiting signs of stress
from the effects of climate change, according to four ocean researchers from Scripps
Institution of Oceanography, San Diego and Stanford University.
The researchers will discuss recent observations of trends in phenomena such as
ocean acidification as a consequence of the global ocean’s uptake of carbon dioxide
emitted into the atmosphere, and polar ice melt.
“Unlike global warming, which can manifest itself in nuanced, complex ways, the
science of ocean acidification is unambiguous,” said Scripps professor of marine
chemistry Andrew Dickson, who will provide an overview of ocean chemistry trends.
“The chemical reactions that take place as increasing amounts of carbon dioxide are
introduced to seawater have been established for nearly a century.”
Biological oceanographer Victoria Fabry, a professor at California State
University, San Marcos and visiting research associate at Scripps, said that it may take
only 20 to 30 years before a dramatic restructuring of marine and coastal ecosystems
takes place, which would in turn impact their ability to provide food security through
fisheries, coastal protection, and tourism dollars.
Ocean acidification is only one phenomenon affecting marine ecosystems the
health of which has direct bearing on society. Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, Director of the
Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland and Director of Stanford in
Australia, notes that coral reefs, though a proportionately small portion of Earth’s surface
support 500 million people in tropical coastal zones by providing food, income and
coastal protection.
If global temperatures increase to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit)
above pre-industrial global temperatures, coral reefs will be largely eliminated by
bleaching and disease. The resulting loss of protection from ocean storms and economic
damage would most affect people who had the least role in causing the destructive trends.
Ocean warming also means rise in sea level. Robert Dunbar, a professor of earth
sciences at Stanford University will discuss new results from scientific drilling, which
shows that West Antarctica is highly prone to melting. This work indicates that melting
of Antarctica’s ice is expected to contribute to a total projected sea level rise of up to 1.4
meters (about 4.5 feet) by 2100. The potential for sea level rise this century is far larger
than estimates issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007, which
did not address the melting of Greenland and Antarctic ice.
“Melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet occurred when temperatures were as
little as 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than today and when
atmospheric CO2 levels were 450 parts per million or less,“ said Dunbar. These values
are lower than the values scientists now project for 2100. Approximately one hundredsixty
million people live below one meter elevation.
“A very rapid movement to renewables must occur within the next five years,”
stated Hoegh-Guldberg. “If not, we will see circumstances on this planet which will
threaten the lives of hundreds of millions of people.”
