Ecosystem metabolism drives pH variability and modulates long-term ocean acidification in the Northeast Pacific coastal ocean.

ABSTRACT: Ocean acidification poses serious threats to coastal ecosystem services, yet few empirical studies have investigated how local ecological processes may modulate global changes of pH from rising atmospheric CO₂. We quantified patterns of pH variability as a function of atmospheric CO₂ and local physical and biological processes at 83 sites over 25 years in the Salish Sea and two NE Pacific estuaries. Mean seawater pH decreased significantly at -0.009 ± 0.0005 pH yr^-1 (0.22 pH over 25 years), with spatially variable rates ranging up to 10 times greater than atmospheric CO₂-driven ocean acidification. Dissolved oxygen saturation (%DO) decreased by -0.24 ± 0.036% yr^-1, with site-specific trends similar to pH. Mean pH shifted from <7.6 in w

SUBMITTER: Lowe AT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6353961 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature