The exposure of the Great Barrier Reef to ocean acidification
Mongin, M.; Baird, M.E.; Tilbrook, B.; Matear, R.J.; Lenton, A.; Herzfeld, M.; Wild-Allen, K.; Skerratt, J.; Margvelashvili, N.; Robson, B.J.; Duarte, C.M.; Gustafsson, M.S.M.; Ralph, P.J.; Steven, A.D.L. (2016). The exposure of the Great Barrier Reef to ocean acidification. Nature Comm. 7(10732): 8 pp. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10732
In: Nature Communications. Nature Publishing Group: London. ISSN 2041-1723; e-ISSN 2041-1723, more
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| Authors | | Top |
- Mongin, M.
- Baird, M.E.
- Tilbrook, B.
- Matear, R.J.
- Lenton, A.
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- Herzfeld, M.
- Wild-Allen, K.
- Skerratt, J.
- Margvelashvili, N.
- Robson, B.J.
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- Duarte, C.M., more
- Gustafsson, M.S.M.
- Ralph, P.J.
- Steven, A.D.L.
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| Abstract |
The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is founded on reef-building corals. Corals build their exoskeleton with aragonite, but ocean acidification is lowering the aragonite saturation state of seawater (Oa). The downscaling of ocean acidification projections from global to GBR scales requires the set of regional drivers controlling Oa to be resolved. Here we use a regional coupled circulation–biogeochemical model and observations to estimate the Oa experienced by the 3,581 reefs of the GBR, and to apportion the contributions of the hydrological cycle, regional hydrodynamics and metabolism on Oa variability. We find more detail, and a greater range (1.43), than previously compiled coarse maps of Oa of the region (0.4), or in observations (1.0). Most of the variability in Oa is due to processes upstream of the reef in question. As a result, future decline in Oa is likely to be steeper on the GBR than currently projected by the IPCC assessment report |
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