Ocean Acidification Strategic Plan released

The U.S. Strategic Plan for Federal Research and Monitoring of Ocean Acidification, developed by the Interagency Working Group on Ocean Acidification (IWG-OA), which includes CCIWG members Paula Bontempi (as Vice-Chair) and  Kathy Tedesco from NASA and Libby Jewett (as Chair) from NOAA, has been released. The IWG-OA was chartered by the Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Technology (SOST) in October 2009 as directed by the Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring Act of 2009 (FOARAM Act).

An excerpt from the Executive Summary:

 '...Recognizing the need for a comprehensive interagency plan to address the increasing impacts of ocean acidification, Congress passed the Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring Act of 2009 (FOARAM Act), which defines ocean acidification as “the decrease in pH of the Earth’s oceans and changes in ocean chemistry caused by chemical inputs from the atmosphere, including CO₂.”

Coastal and estuarine acidification, to the extent that the cause of the acidification can be traced back to anthropogenic atmospheric inputs to the ocean, are assumed to be covered by this Strategic Plan for Federal Research and Monitoring of Ocean Acidification (Strategic Plan) wherever ocean acidification is referenced. To further clarify, anthropogenic effects on land- based runoff can drive respiration-induced acidification that likely exacerbates chemical changes caused by atmospheric CO₂ loading....'