Ocean Acidification and Other Ocean Changes

The world’s oceans have absorbed about 93% of the excess heat caused by greenhouse gas warming since the mid-20th century, making them warmer and altering global and regional climate feedbacks. Ocean heat content has increased at all depths since the 1960s and surface waters have warmed by about 1.3° ± 0.1°F (0.7° ± 0.08°C) per century globally since 1900 to 2016. Under a higher scenario, a global increase in average sea surface temperature of 4.9° ± 1.3°F (2.7° ± 0.7°C) by 2100 is projected, with even higher changes in some U.S. coastal regions.

Open
Tags: Carbon Emissions Climate Change Global carbon cycle Ocean Acidification Society
Ocean Acidification and Other Ocean Changes

Related Resources

The Ocean Carbon Cycle
 The ocean holds vast quantities of carbon that it continually exchanges with the atmosphere through the air-sea interface. Because of its enormous size and relatively rapid exchange of carbon with the[...]
Tags: CarbonCarbon EmissionsClimate ChangeGlobal carbon cycle
Mangroves as Feeding and Breeding Grounds
 Mangroves are considered as ecosystems that provide shelter, food and breeding grounds for many groups of inhabiting fauna. Much of the fauna present are organisms in different stages of their life cy[...]
Tags: BiodiversityEcosystem Benefitsecosystem servicesFisheries
Keys to Successful Blue Carbon Projects: Lessons learned from global case studies
 Ecosystem services such as protection from storms and erosion, tourism benefits, and climate adaptation and mitigation have been increasingly recognized as important considerations for environmental p[...]
Tags: Blue CarbonBlue Forestscarbon offsettingcarobn sequestration
Contribution of Mangroves to Coastal Carbon Cycling in Low Latitude Seas
 The contribution of mangrove carbon to the coastal ocean in low latitudes was evaluated. Mangrove forests occupy only 2% of the world’s coastal ocean area yet they account for about 5% of net pr[...]
Tags: Blue CarbonBlue ForestsCarbonCarbon Sequestration
Connecting to the oceans
 Improved public understanding of the ocean and the importance of sustainable ocean use, or ocean literacy, is essential for achieving global commitments to sustainable development by 2030 and beyond. [...]
Tags: Ocean Literacy
Seagrass Ecosystems as a Globally Significant Carbon Stock
 The protection of organic carbon stored in forests is considered as an important method for mitigating climate change. Like terrestrial ecosystems, coastal ecosystems store large amounts of carbon, an[...]
Tags: Blue CarbonCarbon SequestrationEcosystem Benefitsecosystem services
Extinction Risk Assessment of the World’s Seagrass Species
 Seagrasses, a functional group of marine flowering plants rooted in the world’s coastal oceans, support marine food webs and provide essential habitat for many coastal species, playing a critical ro[...]
Tags: BiodiversityextinctionlossSeagrass
Seagrass Restoration Enhances “Blue Carbon” Sequestration in Coastal Waters
 Seagrass meadows are highly productive habitats that provide important ecosystem services in the coastal zone, including carbon and nutrient sequestration. Organic carbon in seagrass sediment, known a[...]
Tags: Blue CarbonCarbon SequestrationEcosystem Benefitsecosystem services