Atlantic Waters Near Bermuda Has Decreased Oxygen Levels Due to Ocean Acidification [Study]

Ocean acidification has been detected in the Atlantic Ocean, near the island of Bermuda, causing decreased oxygen levels, according to a decades-long study led by researchers in Bermuda.

Evidence of this environmental disaster was based on observation of this part of the Atlantic waters 40 years ago, indicating that significant ocean warming or rise in average sea temperatures have occurred.

This warming triggered acidification, an event known for cooking alive fish and coral reef systems.

While ocean acidification has been recorded in different parts of the world, notably in the waters of Japan, France, Australia, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, similar conditions have started to emerge even in remote waters.

One effect of this phenomenon is that it reduces the amount of carbonate, an essential building block in seawater, according to scientists. Carbonate is used by some marine organisms like coral and plankton to form their shells and skeletons.

Bermuda Atlantic Time-Series Study

The 40-years-long research paper is part of the "Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (BATS)" published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science on December 8.

Data from BATS is based on ocean acidification observations from 1983 to 2023, wherein scientists used the Sargasso Sea at the Bermuda Atlantic region as a site of study.

The site is located near Bermuda, particularly in the North Atlantic Ocean, which showed decades-long rapid changes in ocean physical and biogeochemical conditions.

The researchers found that this part of the world's ocean has shown not only traces of ocean acidification but also continued trends of surface warming, salinity increase, loss of dissolved oxygen, and increase in carbon dioxide.

Atlantic Ocean Warming

Within the said period, BATS observations found that the Atlantic waters near Bermuda warmed by more than 1 degree Celsius and increased salinity by over 0.136.

The observations imply that since the 1980s, the ocean dissolved inorganic carbon and total alkalinity, which show traces of anthropogenic or human-induced carbon dioxide. There is also no evidence mentioned that these rates of change will be reduced over time.

Furthermore, ocean acidification in the North Atlantic also decreased the ocean pH level by ~0.1 pH units, with ocean acidity increasing by more than 30%.

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), pH or potential of hydrogen is the expression of hydrogen ion levels in water and it affects most chemical and biological processes in the water.

What is Ocean Acidification?

Ocean acidification pertains to the reduction of pH levels in the ocean over an extended period of time and it is mainly caused by the uptake of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) explained.

The phenomenon can be traced back as far as one might think. The NOAA estimates that for more than 200 years, or since the onset of the Industrial Revolution, carbon dioxide concentrations in the Earth's atmosphere have increased due to anthropogenic factors like fossil fuel burning and land use change.