Dec. 17, 2019 10:17AM EST
Ocean waters off the coast of
California are acidifying twice as fast as the rest of the world's oceans, new research shows.
A study published Monday in the journal Nature
Geoscience led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration used
fossil analysis of planktonic organisms to create a 100-year acidification
records for California's ocean waters.
Increased acidity in ocean
waters is harmful to marine life, especially shellfish, and California's
fisheries provide more than 10 percent of the nation's seafood production.
"While the ocean has served a very important role in mitigating climate
change by absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere, there's a capacity at which the
ocean can't absorb anymore," NOAA's Emily Osborne, one of the lead authors
on the study, told the LA Times. "From this study, and so many other
published studies, there's no question that the answer is to curb our carbon
emissions."
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