Cash for acid ocean research

Among the many environmental concerns facing the earth today, according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and the Natural Environment Research Council, is ocean acidification.

As results of research that shows oceans are becoming more acidic due to increased CO2 emissions from humans, the UK Government has initiated an £11 million program to study how to decrease emissions and what the direct effect of CO2 on the oceans is.

This research program will stretch from the present to 2014, with major funding for the project speared by NERC and Defra.

The majority of the research will focus on the Arctic, Atlantic, and Antarctic oceans and will study how marine life and ecosystems are affected by the CO2 emissions.

It is suspected that a continued increase in CO2 emissions will damage the lower life forms of aquatic life such as coral, plankton, and aquatic animals that form shells for protection.

According to scientists, since the Industrial Revolution acidity in the ocean has increased by about a third, which is the largest recorded change in about 65,000,000 years, warranting that action be taken now before species become extinct.

Other nations such as the US have praised the UK initiative, stating that ocean acidity is something the entire world should be concerned about.