Researchers supported in part by NOAA’s Ocean Acidification Program co-authored research that won the United Kingdom’s National Champion award and is a finalist for the Frontiers Planet Prize, the world’s largest global science competition.
“Ocean Acidification: Another Planetary Boundary Crossed” published in Global Change Biology presented findings that ocean acidification has significantly compromised 40% of the global surface ocean, and 60% of the subsurface ocean to a depth of 656 feet (200 meters). This challenges previous assertions for ocean acidification, demonstrating that “the global ocean has gotten close to or crossed the boundary of ‘safe living space’ of good habitats for some calcifying species in many regions of the ocean,” says Richard Feely of NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory.
NOAA scientists Drs. Richard Feely (NOAA PMEL) and Liqing Jiang (CISESS / NESDIS-NCEI) join lead author Dr. Helen S. Findlay from Plymouth Marine Laboratory and others named as the United Kingdom’s National Champion. In addition, this work was nominated by the UK as one of 25 nominees worldwide for the international Frontiers Planet Prize, which awards three scientists $1 million each per year and fast-tracks transformative research with the power to shape real-world outcomes. One national champion is selected for each participating country, and from this international pool, a jury selects three awardees for the Frontiers Planet Prize.
Read more about this work showing how ocean acidification is more pervasive than previously thought
