The waters of Alaska are vast, cold and vulnerable to the effects of ocean acidification. Although these effects have been characterized in the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, on Monday July 13 NOAA and partners will depart to survey new waters in the Gulf of Alaska. Researchers from NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) and University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) will set sail on the NOAA ship Ronald H. Brown to survey ocean chemistry and its connections to the base of the food web in the Gulf of Alaska. 

“This cruise offers the unique opportunity for data to be collected throughout the Gulf of Alaska,” said Dr. Jessica Cross, chief scientist for this expedition, “This will be the first broad scale, comprehensive survey in this area.”

NOAA and scientists from Princeton, Old Dominion University, and the Universities of New Hampshire, Delaware, and Miami set off on June 19th from Newport, Rhode Island aboard NOAA ship Gordon Gunter on a research cruise to better understand ocean acidification and its drivers along the U.S. East Coast. 

This research cruise is just one part of a larger effort supported by the NOAA Ocean Acidification Program to better understand how ocean chemistry along all the U.S. coasts is changing in response to ocean acidification and where marine organisms may be at greatest risk. Similar cruises have taken place on the U.S. West Coast and the Gulf of Mexico. Understanding why and how fast our ocean chemistry is changing in different areas will allow scientists to better predict future changes and explore ways to adapt to those shifts.

NOAA is providing a grant of $1.4 million over three years to help shellfish growers and scientific experts work together to expand ocean acidification (OA) monitoring in waters that are particularly important to Pacific coast communities such as in oyster hatcheries and coastal waters where young oysters are grown. 

Shellfish growers, hatchery owners and scientists will work together to strengthen their understanding of and ability to adapt to the impacts of ocean acidification on the Pacific Coast of the US, including Alaska. Carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, which are being absorbed by the ocean, are causing a change in ocean chemistry which has already been detected along this coast.