When carbon dioxide mixes with seawater, it undergoes chemical reactions that increase the water’s acidity. Scientists for years have worried that the West Coast would face some of the earliest, most severe changes in ocean carbon chemistry. Many have noted how West Coast waters seemed to acidify faster, but there was little historical data to turn to. “Prior to this, we didn’t have a time series that was long enough to really reveal the relationship between ocean acidification” and these climate cycles. Advertisement“We can read the deposits like pages in a book,” said Osborne, a scientist for NOAA’s Ocean Acidification Program.

Source: Los Angeles Times December 16, 2019 18:22 UTC