Numerous studies are documenting the growing effects of climate change, carbon dioxide, pollution and other human-related phenomena on the world’s oceans. But most of those have studied single, isolated sources of pollution and other influences.
Dr Scott Doney, WHOI
Now, a marine geochemist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has published a report in the latest issue of the journal Science that evaluates the total impact of such factors on the ocean and considers what the future might hold.
“What we do on land — agriculture, fossil fuel combustion and pollution — can have a profound impact on the chemistry of the sea,” says Scott C. Doney, a senior scientist at WHOI and author of the Science report. “A whole range of these factors have been studied in isolation but have not been put in a single venue.”
He concludes that climate change, rising atmospheric carbon dioxide, excess nutrient inputs, and the many forms of pollution are “altering fundamentally the…ocean, often on a global scale and, in some cases, at rates greatly exceeding those in the historical and recent geological record.”
Scott Doney is calling for “a deeper understanding of human impacts on ocean biogeochemistry…”.
Please read a more detailed summary of this paper’s findings here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100617185131.htm
Journal Reference:
1.Scott C. Doney. The Growing Human Footprint on Coastal and Open-Ocean Biogeochemistry. Science, 2010; 328 (5985): 1512-1516 DOI: 10.1126/science.1185198
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. “Comprehensive Look at Human Impacts on Ocean Chemistry.” ScienceDaily 21 June 2010. 21 June 2010 <http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2010/06/100617185131.htm>.
Credit: Photo by John Bullister, NOAA/PMEL)
