Environmental Protection  Arctic Cruise Explores Changing Ocean
Acidification  Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey will
embark on a research cruise to the Arctic Ocean beginning today
to collect water samples and other data to determine trends in
ocean acidification from the least explored ocean in the world.
For the second straight year, the researchers will set sail
aboard the U.S. Coast Guard vessel Healy. What they learn from
the data collected during the seven-week cruise will provide an
understanding of the extent Arctic Ocean chemistry is changing
and detail potential implications for carbonate species – such
as phytoplankton and shellfish - that are vulnerable to greater
ocean acidity.  Ocean acidification is the process by which pH
levels of seawater decrease due to the greater amounts of carbon
dioxide being absorbed by the oceans from the atmosphere.
Currently oceans absorb about one-fourth of the greenhouse gas.
Lower pH levels make water more acidic, and lab studies have
shown that more-a