The Arctic Ocean is acidifying in fourth gear

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This process is three to four times faster than in other oceans: the Arctic is experiencing rapid acidification of its waters, which worries the scientific community.

Arguably, the melting of sea ice is linked to global warming and has the effect of exposing ocean water to the atmosphere, thereby promoting the rapid absorption of carbon dioxide released by human activities there.

It has a diminishing effect alkalinity Oceans and their buffering power: Gold, CO by chemical reaction₂ is converted to carbonic acid, which leads to a sharp drop in the pH of the water, hence Acidification This.

A study was published on Thursday, September 29 A team of researchers from the Polar and Oceanographic Research Institute of Jimei University in China and the School of Marine Science and Policy at the University of Delaware in the US demonstrate in the journal Science that the Arctic Ocean is acidifying much faster than the Atlantic. Pacific, Indian, Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic basins.

Pole motivation

According to researchers, this acidification of the Arctic already exists. “Major Impacts” The continued melting of sea ice, accelerated by the use of fossil fuels, is expected to intensify in the coming decades, endangering marine life, especially coral reefs.

A previous study revealed that by August 2022, the Arctic Ocean had warmed almost four times faster than the global average over the past forty-three years: a phenomenon already known “Polar amplification“, but previous studies have underestimated it, given that the Arctic is warming two to three times faster than Earth on average.