Study finds California coastal waters are twice as acidic as the global average

Waves break off the California coast.
(Image credit: David McNew/Getty Images)

A new study led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has found that waters off the coast of California are acidifying twice as fast as the global average.

Scientists looked at nearly 2,000 shells of a microscopic animal called foraminifera. They measured deposits on the shells and determined that over a century dating back to 1895, the waters had a 0.21 decline in pH, more than double the global average of 0.1. When carbon dioxide mixes with seawater, a chemical reaction makes the water more acidic; since the Industrial Revolution, the ocean has absorbed more than a quarter of the carbon dioxide released by humans and roughly 90 percent of the resulting heat, the Los Angeles Times reports.

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Researchers also made an unexpected discovery, finding that the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, a natural warming and cooling cycle, plays a role in ocean acidification, making it better or worse depending on whether its warm or cool. The study was published Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.