NOAA's Ocean Acidification Program supports research focused on economically, ecologically, and culturally important marine species. We can use what we know about survival, growth, and physiology to explore how aquaculture, wild fisheries, and food webs may change as ocean chemistry changes.
NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service Science Centers have state-of-the-art experimental facilities to study the response of marine life to the chemistry conditions expected with ocean acidification.
The Northeast Fisheries Science Center has facilities at its Sandy Hook, NJ and Milford, CT laboratories; the Alaska Fisheries Science Centers at its Newport, OR and Kodiak, AK laboratories; and the Northwest Fisheries Science Center at its Mukilteo and Manchester, WA laboratories. All facilities can tightly control carbon dioxide and temperature. The Northwest Fisheries Science Center can also control oxygen, and can create variable treatment conditions for carbon dioxide, temperature, and oxygen. At the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, coral research connects ocean conditions with reef health. These facilities include equipment for seawater carbon chemistry analysis, and all use standard operating procedures for analyzing carbonate chemistry to identify the treatment conditions used in experiments.
NOAA national laboratories are global leaders for delivering innovative strategies for ocean observations and support tools for managing marine resources.
NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) makes critical observations and conducts groundbreaking research to advance our knowledge of the global ocean and its interactions with the earth, atmosphere, ecosystems, and climate. This includes research, observations, and technology development in support of society's response to urgent challenges with ocean acidification and ocean change. NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) conducts world-class Earth system research, with a focus on the Atlantic Ocean region, to inform: the accurate forecasting of extreme weather and ocean phenomena, the management of marine resources, and an understanding of climate change and associated impacts. AOML improves ocean and weather services including advancing our understanding of ocean and coastal acidification and its potential impacts on coral reef and other ecosystems.
Both deep sea and shallow reef-building corals have calcium carbonate skeletons. As our oceans become more acidic, carbonate ions, which are an important building blocks of calcium carbonate structures like coral skeletons, become relatively less abundant. Decreases in these building blocks make building and maintaining calcium carbonate structures harder for calcifying marine organisms such as coral.
Increased levels of carbon dioxide in our ocean can have a wide variety of impacts on fish, including altering behavior, otolith (a fish's ear bone) formation, and young fish's growth. Find out more about what scientists are learning about ocean acidification impacts on fish like rockfish, scup, summer flounder, and walleye pollock.
Shellfish, such as oyster, clams, crabs and scallop, provide food for marine life and for people, too. Shellfish make their shells from calcium carbonate, which contains carbonate ion as a building block. The decreases in seawater carbonate ion concentration expected with ocean acidification can make building and maintaining calcium carbonate structures difficult for calcifying marine organisms like shellfish. This may impact their survival, growth, and physiology, and, thus, the food webs and economies that depend on them.
Plankton are tiny plants and animals that many marine organisms, from salmon to whales, rely on for nutrition. Some plankton have calcium carbonate structures, which are built from carbonate ions. Carbonate ions become relatively less abundant as the oceans become more acidic. Decreases in these building blocks can make building and maintaining shells and other calcium carbonate structures difficult for calcifying marine organisms such as plankton. Changes to the survival, growth, and physiology of plankton can have impacts throughout the food web.
There is a significant need to strengthen capacity for research, monitoring, and adaptive solutions for ocean acidification resilience and associated multi-stressors in the Caribbean region. The Caribbean Ocean Acidification Community of Practice (CoP) endeavors to explore the impacts of ocean acidification on important ocean and coastal areas, such as coral reefs, ecosystem and human health, and socio-economic activities within the region. Other efforts by NOAA and partners in the region are to stand up a Caribbean Coastal Acidification Network (CAN) and create a GOA-ON Hub.
To determine the needs of the local communities, the CoP is working with The Ocean Foundation to facilitate a Needs Based Assessment Survey. The goal of the survey is to better inform policymakers and funding agencies in the region about OA and identify pathways for long-standing community structures such as a Coastal Acidification Network and GOA-ON Hub. This survey also helps self-identify leaders within the communities to carry these efforts forward. The survey will be open until April 21, 2023. The CoP aims to report on survey results via email and at local conferences (i.e. AMLC Meeting in St. Kitts May 22-26, 2023). If you have any questions about the survey, please contact Alexis Valauri-Orton (avalauriorton@oceanfdn.org).
Sea Grant announces a new funding opportunity for collaborative projects that address priority research needs to enhance our understanding of and address impacts to the American lobster fishery in the Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank, and southern New England.
The program seeks applications from research teams and encourages partnerships between industry, State agencies, and/or academia that address American lobster population dynamics, life history parameters (including temperature, ocean acidification or other changing climate conditions), species interactions and behavior, and/or social, behavioral, or economic research, including analyses regarding measures under consideration for inclusion in the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan.
Read the full announcement
Applications must be submitted to Grants.gov by 11:59 p.m. ET, May 10, 2023.
The research will become part of the Wednesday, March 22, 2023
The DFO-NOAA Ocean Acidification Steering Committee is pleased to announce the kickoff of the next round of funding to support projects/activities that help to advance our collaborative efforts. As with the previous round, there is $50K USD and $50K CAD set aside, and the focus will be on supporting students, post-docs, and early career scientists.
Funding Opportunity Details and Application Instructions
The deadline to submit proposals is February 15, 2023, sent to Alyssa Dunbar (Alyssa.dunbar@dfo-mpo.gc.ca) and Alex Puritz (Alexandra.puritz@noaa.gov). Contact them with questions.
Announcing a position at NERACOOS as the Climate and Ecosystems Coordinator. The two primary responsibilities will be coordinating the Northeast Coastal Acidification Network (NECAN) and the Ocean Acidification Information Exchange (OAIE), with time reserved to develop new work related to OA, HABs, and other emerging issues.
Position Details and Requirements HERE
Applying Instructions: Submit CV, 1-page cover letter, and contact information for three professional references as a PDF to Rob Cardeiro (rob@neracoos.org). The search committee will review applications beginning February 1, 2023, and will continue until the position is filled.