Virtual tour: Google Earth dives into ocean acidification
2nd October 2012
Google Earth will soon offer a virtual tour around the
world to explain ocean acidification and its rapid effects on
marine life and humanity. The chemistry of one half of the Arctic
Ocean, for example, will be changed by 2050 if carbon dioxide
(CO2) levels continue to rise at current rates. The new
feature and a new guide on ocean acidification were launched at The
Ocean in a High CO2 World Symposium in Monterey,
California.
“The new knowledge and multimedia guides released today open up
ocean acidification so everyone can explore from their desktops
what our current carbon dioxide emissions may mean to the ocean,
and to us, in the very near future,” says Dan Laffoley, Marine Vice
Chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
World Commission on Protected Areas and Chair of Europe’s Ocean
Acidification Reference User Group.
The new guide ‘Ocean Acidification: The knowledge base 2012’
provides the latest science and identifies actions to prevent the
spread of ocean acidification. According to the publication, ocean
acidity has increased by 30 percent since the beginning of the
Industrial Revolution. If CO2 emissions continue to
increase, the rate of acidification will accelerate in the coming
decades. This rate of change is many times faster than anything
experienced in the last 250 million years.
Major studies on ocean acidification are currently underway in
Australia, China, the European Union, Japan, Korea, Monaco, the UK
and the US. The new guide is the last in a series aimed at policy
makers. It was compiled by the Ocean Acidification Reference User
Group (RUG) and drawing on the expertise of over 30 of the world’s
leading marine scientists.
In its previous publication ‘Ocean Acidification: Questions
Answered,’ the group claimed that ocean acidification is happening
10 times faster than that which preceded the extinction 55 million
years ago of many marine species. If the current rate of
acidification continues, fragile ecosystems such as coral reefs,
hosting a wealth of marine life, could be seriously damaged by
2050, according to the study.
“Supported by the Government of Monaco and my Foundation, an
Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre has been set
up in Monaco within the premises of the International Atomic Energy
Agency’s Marine Environment Laboratory,” Prince Albert II of Monaco
said. “It represents not only an enormous source of pride for
myself but also gives me real hopes for the future.”
Monaco is the new home of the Ocean Acidification International
Coordination Centre.
Article by Bernd F. Laeschke, global-adventures.us, 1st
October 2012.