Coral Calamity: Will Reefs Really Die Off by 2100? Douglas Main - TakePart
go to original July 8, 2013

The world now faces losing marine species and entire marine ecosystems, such as coral reefs, within a single generation, according to experts. (AFP)

More bad news for coral reefs: If nothing is done to reduce carbon emissions, there may be nowhere left in the world's ocean where they can survive, new research suggests.

"Under the current emissions trajectory, well before the end of the century there will be no water left in the ocean with the kind of chemistry that has supported coral growth in the past," said Ken Caldeira, a researcher at the Carnegie Institution for Science at Stanford University.

Besides trapping heat in the atmosphere via the greenhouse effect, carbon dioxide also dissolves into the water, leading to ocean acidification. Since the beginning of industrialization, the oceans have become more acidic, absorbing more than 40 percent of the carbon that humans emit each year.

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