0:04 This is the Thank You Ocean Report.
0:06 Today, our story is basically about
0:08 chemical changes in the ocean and what
0:10 they mean to us and to the creatures who
0:12 live in that ocean. But there are a
0:14 couple of terms we need to understand
0:17 first. Ocean acidification is the
0:21 long-term change in the chemistry of
0:24 ocean water that is caused by our carbon
0:27 dioxide emissions to the atmosphere. Dr.
0:29 Dr. Tessa Hills, an associate professor
0:31 at UC Davis in the department of Earth
0:34 and Planetary Sciences. Her research is
0:36 based at UC Davis's Bedadega Marine
0:38 Laboratory. About 30% of that carbon
0:41 dioxide is soaked up by the ocean and
0:44 that fundamentally changes the chemistry
0:45 of the ocean. And while there have been
0:48 periodic changes to that chemistry
0:50 during the last million years or so,
0:53 generally speaking, the chemistry has
0:55 been fairly consistent. And so all of
0:57 the organisms that live in the ocean
1:01 have evolved in that relatively
1:03 long-term stable environment. So these
1:06 changes have not been drastic or rapid.
1:08 A very different picture to what is now
1:11 being observed. Organisms may probably
1:15 do have some capacity to adapt to change
1:17 in ocean chemistry along with ocean
1:19 temperature. But what's really notable
1:21 about our human impacts on this system
1:24 is that it is changing so much faster
1:26 than any time period we can reconstruct
1:28 in the geological record. Okay, here's
1:31 the second term we need to understand.
1:34 Hypoxia, which refers to a decrease in
1:37 oxygen in the ocean. It does happen
1:38 naturally in the ocean. So there are
1:40 actually zones in the ocean that are
1:43 lower in oxygen than others. And that
1:46 happens because of all the material
1:47 that's in the ocean, all the animals and
1:50 the plants actually degrading, breaking
1:53 apart, breaking down, actually uses up
1:55 oxygen over time. So as things die and
1:58 decay, there's a natural process where
2:01 oxygen gets used. And the nutrients we
2:03 use for gardening and farming also go
2:05 into the ocean and this can further
2:08 accelerate this hypoxia problem by
2:11 increasing plant productivity at the
2:13 surface of the ocean. Then all of that
2:16 plant or animal mass sinks down and
2:19 starts to decay and sort of accentuates
2:21 that natural process. And here is one
2:23 more wrinkle to our story. As the ocean
2:26 warms with climate change, the ocean
2:28 water will actually hold less oxygen.
2:31 Further contributing to that hypoxic
2:33 ocean. So what scientists are really
2:35 thinking about here are complex
2:38 conditions such as ocean acidification,
2:40 hypoxia and other factors which are
2:42 causing the chemistry of the ocean to
2:45 change. Now our story moves on to one of
2:48 the solutions. The ocean acidification
2:52 and hypoxia panel is actually a panel
2:55 that has California, Oregon, Washington
2:58 and British Columbia working together.
3:01 It is a science panel of about two dozen
3:04 scientists that are working together to
3:06 inform the policy makers and the
3:10 managers of those west coast states on
3:12 how to deal with ocean acidification and
3:14 hypoxia as a problem. And I serve on
3:16 that panel as well as one of my other
3:17 colleagues here at Bedadega Marine
3:20 Laboratory, John Larier. And the panel
3:22 was convened and funded by the
3:24 California Ocean Protection Council and
3:26 the California Ocean Science Trust. On
3:28 the panel, there is a close relationship
3:30 between the scientific community and
3:32 policymakers. One example is the
3:34 development of a network of monitoring
3:37 systems to track chemical changes
3:39 actually taking place in the ocean. And
3:42 Dr. Hill emphasizes that these issues
3:44 need to be addressed globally and
3:46 locally. We have to curb our fossil fuel
3:49 emissions globally. So, we need to be
3:52 making both local and global steps
3:54 towards decreasing our fossil fuel
3:58 emissions. There are things we can do in
4:00 addition to that on a local scale that
4:02 help the ocean stay resilient and
4:05 healthy. And so I would encourage people
4:07 to do everything they can to decrease
4:11 pollution to the ocean, to protect ocean
4:13 spaces using things like marine reserves
4:16 and basically help our coastal
4:19 environments be as resilient as possible
4:21 knowing that this big problem is headed
4:23 our direction. And our thanks to Dr.
4:25 Tessa Hill. And here's your thank you
4:28 ocean everyday action. Reduce your
4:30 carbon footprint and help keep the ocean
4:33 healthy so that it is more resilient to
