Variability in exposure of ocean acidification conditions below the biological thresholds of marine calcifiers off the Washington coast
Abstract
Uptake of anthropogenic CO2 has increased the intensity, duration, and frequency of ocean acidification (OA) conditions that occur naturally due to upwelling on the continental shelf of the northern California Current System. Exposure to low pH and aragonite saturation state can be detrimental to calcifying organisms, such as pteropods and Dungeness crabs, that are important to the region, both economically and ecologically. Biological thresholds that indicate the vulnerability of these pelagic calcifiers to OA include, among others, those for increased shell dissolution and mortality at different life stages that are important for assessing sensitivity as well as potential impact on the biological pump. We used directly measured, high-frequency water column time series data from moorings off the coast of La Push, Washington in the Northwest Association of Networked Ocean Observing Systems (NANOOS) to characterize the duration, intensity, and severity of exposure to corrosive conditions below the critical biological thresholds of both pelagic calcifiers. Additionally, we investigated the variability of exposure to conditions below biological thresholds from diurnal to interannual time scales. Results from this study will allow us to quantify the biological exposure to OA on marine life off the Washington coast and explore how that has changed over the last decade.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2020
- Bibcode:
- 2020AGUFMPP021..07C
- Keywords:
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- 0419 Biomineralization;
- BIOGEOSCIENCES;
- 0428 Carbon cycling;
- BIOGEOSCIENCES;
- 4912 Biogeochemical cycles;
- processes;
- and modeling;
- PALEOCEANOGRAPHY;
- 5225 Early environment of Earth;
- PLANETARY SCIENCES: ASTROBIOLOGY