Chesapeake Bay Acidification
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22
2:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Conclusions, recommendations and next steps (Miller SERC and
Tamburri ACT)
3:00 p.m.
Adjourn
13 March 2014
Chesapeake Bay Laboratory, Solomons MD
9:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Visit the ACT pCO2 and pH instrument test platform and
pH Sensor Verification deployments off CBL Research Pier
Acidification of Chesapeake Bay
The combustion of fossil fuels during the past 200+ years has
resulted in a significant increase in atmospheric CO
2
from
approximately 280 pre-industrially to the current ~400 parts per
million by volume (ppmv). Projections of fossil fuel use suggest
that atmospheric concentrations may rise as high as 800 or 1000
ppmv in the next 100 years. Since 1800, surface ocean pH has
declined ~0.1 units, and further reductions of 0.1 to 0.4 units are
anticipated due to rising CO
2
. There is widespread concern that
these changes will lead to irreversible ecological regime shifts in
marine habitats, such as massive reductions in coral reef habitats
and the inhibition of other calcifying biota.
However, current predictions regarding the effects of elevated
atmospheric CO
2
are driven almost exclusively by the open ocean
assumption of an air: water equilibrium, regardless of
geographic/oceanographic setting. Such assumptions clearly do
not hold in coastal marine habitats, which are influenced
substantially by terrestrial and near-shore phenomena, including
significant biological perturbation to the water’s carbonate
chemistry and biogeochemical coupling of land and sea. Relying
on the prevailing air:sea equilibrium assumption of open ocean
acidification will surely result in unsound ecological predictions
in coastal habitats.
To address effects of acidification processes in nearshore ecosystems, we will hold a workshop in Annapolis, MD
(March 11-13, 2014). The workshop is designed to assess the science required for understanding coastal
acidification in Chesapeake Bay. Chesapeake Bay is the largest and arguably one of the most productive and
complex estuaries in North America. Advancing our abilities to measure and understand carbonate chemistry
dynamics/acidification in Chesapeake Bay will enable us to make better predictions of ecological/environmental
changes here and in other similar coastal ecosystems. A prime goal of the workshop will be to amass information on
current monitoring assets, data sources, and data gaps as they relate to measuring and monitoring carbonate
chemistry, with an eye toward designing a Chesapeake Bay Monitoring Network (CBAN).
