Subscribe
Donate

Large area of acidified water found in western Arctic Ocean

By
March 15th 2017
Ice chunks float in the Arctic Ocean as the sun sets near Barrow, Alaska on Sept. 13, 2006.
Ice chunks float in the Arctic Ocean as the sun sets near Barrow, Alaska on Sept. 13, 2006. Scientists have found the world's first large-scale area of acidified water in the open ocean in the seas of the western Arctic. File photo by The Canadian Press

Support strong Canadian climate journalism for 2025

Help us raise $150,000 by December 31. Can we count on your support?
Goal: $150k
$32k
Donate

Scientists have found the world's first large-scale area of acidified water in the open ocean in the seas of the western Arctic.

The say the area of acidified water in the Canada Basin has expanded northwards by about 500 kilometres since the mid-90s.

It's also increased in depth by about 100 metres.

They report the area is now six times more acidic than it used to be.

Their study suggests the change is related to disappearing sea ice, which lets more acidic water from the Pacific flow north and increases the exposure of Arctic water to the air.

Ocean acidification is one of the effects of higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Scientists say it's already starting to affect animals from plankton to shellfish.

March 15th 2017

Keep reading

Comments

Subscribe to join the conversation. Already a subscriber? .
Post a comment
You need an active subscription to post a comment. Update your subscription.

Gerald Landry | March 16th 2017, 07:32 am

Last week when I checked prevailing winds over Fort McMurray they were from the SE, then shifting to South, meaning these airborne acids would be blowing due North. I question whether the soot and particulate matter is the prime factor of causing mass thawing of the Arctic Ice cap? The acidification problem could be shared with emissions blowing East from China.

Free Trade with Asia may not have been free after all. The Corporations who fled North America to avoid stringent Emissions Abatement Regulations, exploit cheap labour and negligible environmental regulations in Asia should be rightfully called traitors to the North American workforce abandoned to maximize shareholder profits and more so ecocide of our fragile environments. The globe does not employ a selective umbrella, shedding off faraway airborne pollutants. Sadly the Air Shed is shared by all. Ref:

Fort McMurray Historical Wind Direction
fortmcmurray.weatherstats.ca/metrics/wind_direction.html
Mar 6, 2017 - Wind Direction: weather charts and data over for Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada.

Environment and Climate Change Canada - Pollution and Waste ...
https://www.ec.gc.ca/inrp-npri/default.asp?lang=En&n=AC708134-1
Mar 3, 2017 - Environmenta Canada is considering this proposal and expects to respond ... substances disposed of in tailings in addition to direct release to air, water and land. ... Yet Alberta Environment has acknowledged that naphthenic acids are .... Cogeneration Plant, and Water Pipeline in the Fort McMurray Area, ...

[PDF]
Download the 2010/11 Report - Syncrude Sustainability
www.syncrudesustainability.com/2011/.../Sycrude%202010-11%20CSR%20Repor…...
“The oil sands are a great resource for Canada, but our operation does have an impact ... reduce our total sulphur emissions by about 60 percent. This will have .... ann Dort-mcLean, president, Fort McMurray environmental association. □ ..... in 2011, alberta adopted the air Quality Health index (aQHi), which helps people.

Soot and particulate fallout on ice and snowpack creates the thawing effect = of a runaway train. Have our Provincial Environment Regulators given Work Order's to Heavy Industrial Emitter's of dust and particulate matter marching orders to install the finest & best Cyclone, Bag House, Electrostatic Precipitators, Flue Scrubbers, SCR Nox Scrubber Units to effectively minimize troubling emissions now allowed to disperse to the winds?