Description: © The Author(s), 2016. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Biogeosciences 13 (2016): 5065-5083, doi:10.5194/bg-13-5065-2016.

Description: One of the major challenges to assessing the impact of ocean acidification on marine life is detecting and interpreting long-term change in the context of natural variability. This study addresses this need through a global synthesis of monthly pH and aragonite saturation state (Ωarag) climatologies for 12 open ocean, coastal, and coral reef locations using 3-hourly moored observations of surface seawater partial pressure of CO2 and pH collected together since as early as 2010. Mooring observations suggest open ocean subtropical and subarctic sites experience present-day surface pH and Ωarag conditions outside the bounds of preindustrial variability throughout most, if not all, of the year. In general, coastal mooring sites experience more natural variability and thus, more overlap with preindustrial conditions; however, present-day Ωarag conditions surpass biologically relevant thresholds associated with ocean acidification impacts on Mytilus californianus (Ωarag 〈 1.8) and Crassostrea gigas (Ωarag 〈 2.0) larvae in the California Current Ecosystem (CCE) and Mya arenaria larvae in the Gulf of Maine (Ωarag 〈 1.6). At the most variable mooring locations in coastal systems of the CCE, subseasonal conditions approached Ωarag =  1. Global and regional models and data syntheses of ship-based observations tended to underestimate seasonal variability compared to mooring observations. Efforts such as this to characterize all patterns of pH and Ωarag variability and change at key locations are fundamental to assessing present-day biological impacts of ocean acidification, further improving experimental design to interrogate organism response under real-world conditions, and improving predictive models and vulnerability assessments seeking to quantify the broader impacts of ocean acidification.

Description: The CO2 and ocean acidification observations were funded by NOAA’s Climate Observation Division (COD) in the Climate Program Office and NOAA’s Ocean Acidification Program. The maintenance of the Stratus and WHOTS Ocean Reference Stations were also supported by NOAA COD (NA09OAR4320129). Additional support for buoy equipment, maintenance, and/or ancillary measurements was provided by NOAA through the US Integrated Ocean Observing System office: for the La Parguera buoy under a Cooperative Agreement (NA11NOS0120035) with the Caribbean Coastal Ocean Observing System, for the Chá b˘a buoy under a Cooperative Agreement (NA11NOS0120036) with the Northwest Association of Networked Ocean Observing System, for the Gray’s Reef buoy under a Cooperative Agreement (NA11NOS0120033) with the Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association, and for the Gulf of Main buoy under a Cooperative Agreement (NA11NOS0120034) with the Northeastern Regional Association of Coastal and Ocean Observing Systems.

Description: © The Author(s), 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in [citation], doi:[doi]. Record, N. R., Runge, J. A., Pendleton, D. E., Balch, W. M., Davies, K. T. A., Pershing, A. J., Johnson, C. L., Stamieszkin, K., Ji, R., Feng, Z., Kraus, S. D., Kenney, R. D., Hudak, C. A., Mayo, C. A., Chen, C., Salisbury, J. E., & Thompson, C. R. S. Rapid climate-driven circulation changes threaten conservation of endangered North Atlantic right whales. Oceanography, 32(2), (2019): 162-169, doi: 10.5670/oceanog.2019.201.

Description: As climate trends accelerate, ecosystems will be pushed rapidly into new states, reducing the potential efficacy of conservation strategies based on historical patterns. In the Gulf of Maine, climate-driven changes have restructured the ecosystem rapidly over the past decade. Changes in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation have altered deepwater dynamics, driving warming rates twice as high as the fastest surface rates. This has had implications for the copepod Calanus finmarchicus, a critical food supply for the endangered North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis). The oceanographic changes have driven a deviation in the seasonal foraging patterns of E. glacialis upon which conservation strategies depend, making the whales more vulnerable to ship strikes and gear entanglements. The effects of rapid climate-driven changes on a species at risk undermine current management approaches.

Description: NASA NNX14AM77G and NNX17AI77G (NRR, WMB), NASA NNX16AG59G (NRR, KS), NSF OCE 1459096, 1459087 (NRR, JAR, CRST, CC), NSF OCE 1459133 (RJ, ZF), OCE-1655686 (RJ, ZF), USGS G16AC00237 (DEP), Maine Department of Marine Resources (JR, CRST), Marine Environmental Observation Prediction and Response Network of Centres of Excellence (KTAD). NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service; Massachusetts Environmental Trust; Division of Marine Fisheries, Commonwealth of Massachusetts (CH, CAM), Northeastern Regional Association of Coastal Ocean Observing Systems (CC).