"The Pacific Ocean off the West Coast is acidifying at twice the rate of the rest of the world’s oceans, according to researchers, with potentially catastrophic effects on shellfisheries.

The findings, published Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience, were the product of a seven-year study led by Emily Osborne, a researcher with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s ocean acidification program.

Osborne began collecting samples of sediment from the Santa Barbara Basin off the coast of Southern California in 2013. Because the basin has little oxygen and a dearth of plants and animals, the ocean floor has remained relatively undisturbed. The sediment cores she pulled from the basin contained the shells of foraminifera, a single-celled plankton, dating back to 1895."

Kale Williams reports for the Portland Oregonian December 16, 2019. [2]

SEE ALSO:

"California Coastal Waters Rising In Acidity At Alarming Rate, Study Finds" (Los Angeles Times) [3]

"Waters Off California Acidifying Faster Than Rest of Oceans, Study Shows" (New York Times) [4]