ESF LEE (formerly LESC)/EuroCLIMATE Strategic Workshop on the “Impacts of Ocean Acidification”

Strategic Workshop on the “Impacts of Ocean Acidification”

Meloneras, Gran Canaria (ES), 28-30 Jan. 2008

 

LATEST NEWS! (August 2009)

The ESF Science Policy Briefing 37 entitled "Impacts of Ocean Acidification" is now available!

 

To order paper copies of this publication, please visit the ESF publications page and click on the shopping cart icon to collect the publication. 

 

 

Introduction

Global change is evidenced mainly through the temperature increase observed since the pre-industrial period. It also encompasses other changes, such as perturbations in the biogeochemical cycles of the major (C, O, N, P) and minor (micro-nutrients) elements, in the ecosystem structure and dynamics (e.g., biodiversity loss), or in the related marine resources and services upon which human societies largely depend (e.g., energy, water, land use, fisheries).

However, one component rather neglected until recently is the Ocean Acidification, which relates to the anthropogenic increase in atmospheric CO2 content. It is now under intense scrutiny as it has recently reached some critical thresholds while its impacts on biological, biogeochemical, ecological, economic, social and climatic processes are often not well known or completely unknown, but are expected to be fast emerging and drastic.

Following the approval by the LEE (formerly LESC) Standing Committee to support a proposal submitted in early fall 2007 by Prof. Jelle Bijma, a strategic workshop was organised, with co-sponsorship by the EUROCORES Programme EuroCLIMATE, to address the issue of the Impacts of Ocean Acidification. The main objectives of this strategic workshop were set as follows:

- Drafting a science policy briefing;

- Drafting a proposal for a new science programme (EUROCORES Theme proposal for 2008).

 

Anthropogenic forcing, impact on processes and the provision of ecosystem services are all interconnected so we need to know their relationships and the thresholds, tipping points and possible adaptation scenarios.

 (graph after C. Turley)

 

Presentations given during the Strategic Workshop

Please find below the individual presentations given during this Strategic Workshop, along with some additional documents:

 

Welcome and Introduction – Jelle Bijma & Bernard Avril

Response of Natural Ecosystems to Ocean AcidificationRichard Feely 

Oceanic pH: from monthly to high resolution determination – Melchor Gonzalez-Davila

Ocean Carbon Dioxide: Importance of Observations, Data Management, and Data Synthesis Projects in the Ocean processes predictions – Alex Kozyr 

The Relevance of Human Dimensions Research for the topic of Ocean Acidification – Falk Schmidt

Economic Impacts of Climate Change – Katrin Rehdanz

Status and prospects for CO2 capture and storage – Peter Haugan

Cost-Efficient CO2 Emission Cuts through Induced Technological Change & Risk Management for CO2 Sequestration Options – Hermann Held

Planned and ongoing OA-related research & programmes – Jelle Bijma

European Project on Ocean Acidification – EPOCA – Jean-Pierre Gattuso

German initiative “BIOLOGICAL IMPACT OF OCEAN ACIDIFICATION in times of ocean warming” (BIOACID) – Hans-Otto Pörtner

Initiative for a UK National Programme on Ocean Acidification– Carol Turley

On-going OA-related programmes and research: France– Jean-Pierre Gattuso

Planned research activities of NOAA, NSF and USGS – Richard Feely

The likely impact of Ocean Acidification in the Mediterranean – Patrizia Ziveri

Ocean Acidification: a polar perspective – Paul Rodhouse

 ESF: EurOpA Programme proposal draft – Gert-Jan Reichart

Application of genomics tools and techniques to the understanding of Ocean acidification & Perspectives from the MARS Network – Mike Thorndyke

Contributions from the paleosciences – Thorsten Kiefer

Ocean Acidification: global, regional, seasonal, observational, palaeoclimatic and microbial aspects – Jan de Leeuw

The ICES perspective on Ocean Acidification– Liam Fernand

IOC perspective on Ocean Acidification – Maria Hood

Large-scale international research and ocean acidification - SCOR and IGBP – Ed Urban, Kevin Noone & Manuel Barange

European Climate Change Research – Elisabeth Lipiatou

Ocean Acidification: Communication, Dissemination and Outreach – Carol Turley

2nd Symposium on the Ocean in a High CO2 World – Monaco, 6-8 October 2008 – James Orr

 

Calcidiscus leptoporus (coccolithosphores) images from Gerald Langer, illustrating the effects of artificially elevated CO2 on calcification. The speciment is about 18 μm in diameter.

 

Programme and initial Proposal for the Strategic Workshop on the “Impacts of Ocean Acidification”

The Programme of the Workshop can be found here.

The initial proposal submitted to the LEE (formerly LESC) Standing Committee by Jelle Bijma can be found here.

 

List of participants

The list of participants to the Strategic Workshop "Impacts of Ocean Acidification" can be found here.

 

Useful links

A compilation of weblinks and other web documents relevant to the research on the "Impacts of Ocean Acidification" can be found here.

 

Report(s)

A short report on this Strategic Workshop to the LEE (formerly LESC) Standing Committee can be found here.

 

Related ESF-EuroCLIMATE Workshop

Check also the ESF-EuroCLIMATE Workshop "Atmospheric CO2 Ocean Acidification, and Ecological changes in Planktonic Calcifying Organisms", Barcelona & San Feliu (ES), 26-28 September 2007, here.

 

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last updated: 20 March 2008