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Deep oceans may acidify faster than anticipated due to global warming

Nature Climate Change volume 7, pages 890–894 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

Oceans worldwide are undergoing acidification due to the penetration of anthropogenic CO2 from the atmosphere1,2,3,4. The rate of acidification generally diminishes with increasing depth. Yet, slowing down of the thermohaline circulation due to global warming could reduce the pH in the deep oceans, as more organic material would decompose with a longer residence time. To elucidate this process, a time-series study at a climatically sensitive region with sufficient duration and resolution is needed. Here we show that deep waters in the Sea of Japan are undergoing reduced ventilation, reducing the pH of seawater. As a result, the acidification rate near the bottom of the Sea of Japan is 27% higher than the rate at the surface, which is the same as that predicted assuming an air–sea CO2 equilibrium. This reduced ventilation may be due to global warming and, as an oceanic microcosm with its own deep- and bottom-water formations, the Sea of Japan provides an insight into how future warming might alter the deep-ocean acidification.

Oceans absorb approximately 26% of carbon dioxide emitted to the atmosphere from fossil fuel burning, cement production and clearing of forests5. Consequently, the acidity of seawater may be increasing at a rate not seen for at least the last 30 million years6,7. As is well known, such ocean acidification significantly affects the ability of many major marine organisms (for example, calcareous phytoplankton) to build their outer shells as well as inner skeletal structures, subsequently increasing the physiological stress and reducing the growth and survival of early life stages of many species. Accretion of calcium carbonate in coral-reef-building organisms is also impeded, with the distinct possibility that many coral reefs will perish globally, along with the rich marine life now flourishing in these delicate environments. Many marine mollusc species deemed important in capture fisheries and mariculture will also be adversely affected. Such risks of ocean acidification are especially high in high-latitude regions because CO2 dissolves more readily in colder waters8,9,10,11.

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Fig. 1: Station locations in the Sea of Japan.
Fig. 2: Secular trend of AOU at various depths between 1950 and 2015.
Fig. 3: Secular trend of pH at various depths between 1965 and 2015.
Fig. 4: Rate of temporal changes of pH at various depths between 1965 and 2015.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Aim for the Top University Program of Taiwan (04 C030204) and the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan (contracts MOST104-2611-M-110-015, MOST104-2611-M-110-016 and MOST104-2811-M-110-013) for financially supporting this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Oceanography, National SunYat-sen University, 80424, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

    Chen-Tung Arthur Chen, Hon-Kit Lui & Chia-Han Hsieh

  2. State Key Laboratory of Satellite Ocean Environment Dynamics, Second Institute of Oceanography, 310012, Hangzhou, China

    Chen-Tung Arthur Chen

  3. Taiwan Ocean Research Institute, National Applied Research Laboratories, 80143, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

    Hon-Kit Lui

  4. International Environmental Management of Enclosed Coastal Seas Center, Kobe, 6510073, Japan

    Tetsuo Yanagi

  5. Meteorological Research Institute, Japan Meteorological Agency, Tsukuba, 305-0052, Japan

    Naohiro Kosugi & Masao Ishii

  6. Institute of Marine Environment and Ecology, National Taiwan Ocean University, 20224, Keelung, Taiwan

    Gwo-Ching Gong

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Contributions

The paper was designed by C.-T.A.C. and written mainly by C.-T.A.C. and partly by H.-K.L. Most of the data mining and statistical analysis was performed by C.-H.H. and H.-K.L. T.Y., N.K., M.I. and G.-C.G. provided the information on QA/QC for the JMA and KEEP-MASS data. All authors read and commented on the final version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Chen-Tung Arthur Chen or Hon-Kit Lui.

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Chen, CT.A., Lui, HK., Hsieh, CH. et al. Deep oceans may acidify faster than anticipated due to global warming. Nature Clim Change 7, 890–894 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-017-0003-y

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