SCAR Action Group on Southern Ocean Acidification

Ocean acidification is the transformation of seawater towards an acidic state – it does not mean that the oceans will become acidic IMBER, 2005 Todays ocean pH is already below the glacial-interglacial range

Predicted Southern Ocean Acidification in the 21 st century [CO 3 2- ] Aragonite [CO 3 2- ] = [CO 3 2- ] [CO 3 2- ] sat Orr et al. Nature 2005McNeil and Matear, PNAS, 2008

Kleypas et al., 2006 The range of susceptible organisms is vast

Increasing CO 2 also led to a change in community structure 100ppm 380ppm 800ppm

Why do we need a better understanding of ocean acidification? To help explain changes in regional CO 2 uptake To determine the contributions of natural andexcess ocean acidification to global carbon cycling To identify regionality and rates – OA hotspots, robustness of marine biogeochemical systems To inform on OA scenarios relevant for specific ecosystems and organisms –Optimise observation/monitoring programs –Perform relevant pertubation experiments

SCAR Action Group on Ocean Acidification Background: To date there has not been a group focussing specifically on the evaluation of current understanding of ocean acidification in the southern Ocean and there is no coordination of Southern Ocean acidification research. SCAR Life Sciences and Physical Sciences approved the formation of an Ocean Acidification Action Group The initial membership of the group has been finalised and consists of a cross-disciplinary team of ocean acidification experts representing the fields of marine carbonate chemistry, global and regional modelling, marine ecology, ecotoxicology/physiology

Initial SCAR OA Action Group Richard Bellerby, Norwegian Institute for Water Research, Norway (Chair) Claire Lo Monaco, IPSL, Paris, France Nikki Lovenduski, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA Ben McNeil, Climate Change Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Australia Kurihara Haruko, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, JAPAN Philip Tortell (University of British Columbia, Vancouver BC Canada)

Progress so far Consultation with existing global ocean acidification efforts (e.g SOLAS/IMBER Sub Group 3, US Ocean Carbon Biogeochemistry and the SCAR ICED and the SCAR Oceanography Expert Group.) SCAR OA Action group meeting on ocean chemistry and plankton interactions was held in Tromsø, Sept in conjunction with theAcidification in aquatic environments workshop. Town Hall meeting at the XXXII SCAR and Open Science Conference in conjunction with the OA session Currently a literature search is underway. Writing to begin in autumn Report submitted in SCAR Open Science conference in 2014 A second group meeting will be held in conjunction with the High CO2 meeting in Monterey in September 2012.

Work plan OA session and AG Town hall meeting in Portland July 2012 Author meeting at High CO2 meeting, Monterey Sept 2012 Full author list complete by sept 2012 Sketch of each chapter complete by December 2012 Sketch sent out for wider consultation with appointed experts January 2013 Writing/review workshop in China/Hong Kong late summer 2013 Writing complete by December 2013 Printing completed by Spring 2014 Presentation of report SCAR meeting summer 2014

Budgetary implications All present award will be used up by the end of this year through travel to OSC and for workshops. High costs associated with meetings due to the global spread of lead authors. This will increase as the author list increases although we will, when possible, hold some meetings over skype (accepting that the time zone coverage will make this difficult). (Total) requested budget for 2013/14 $10k