Ocean acidification has been identified in the Planetary Boundary Framework as a planetary process approaching a boundary that could lead to unacceptable environmental change. Using revised estimates of pre‐industrial aragonite saturation state, state‐of‐the‐art data‐model products, including uncertainties and assessing impact on ecological indicators, we improve upon the ocean acidification planetary boundary assessment and d...

Along with other carbon monitoring groups, the ocean acidification (OA) community has been observing, modeling, and projecting the impacts of changing carbonate chemistry for over two decades. The Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network (GOA-ON) has three key goals related to these issues: (1) improve understanding of global OA conditions, (2) improve understanding of ecosystem responses to OA, and (3) acquire and exchang...

A survey of marine pelagic coastal microbial communities was conducted over a large geographic latitude range, from Cape Mendocino in northern California USA to Queen Charlotte Sound in British Columbia Canada, during the spring to summer transition. DNA metabarcoding and flow cytometry were used to characterize microbial communities. Physical and chemical oceanography indicated moderate conditions during the survey with no wi...

The temperature range of Earth's open‐ocean waters is roughly 0–30°C, yet our understanding of the seawater carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) system is largely derived from analyses conducted within a narrow temperature range (e.g., laboratory temperature of 20°C or 25°C). Herein, we address two aspects of open‐ocean CO 2 ‐system measurements and modeling: (1) a highly precise spectrophotometric technique is used to determine bicarbonate...

Dungeness crab ( Metacarcinus magister ) have significant socioeconomic value, but are threatened by ocean acidification (OA) and other environmental stressors that are driven by climate change. Despite evidence that adult harvests are sensitive to the abundance of larval populations, relatively little is known about how Dungeness megalopae will respond to these stressors. Here we evaluate the ability to use micro-computed tom...

In October 2023, we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL), a world leader in oceanographic research and the development of innovative instrumentation and measurement strategies for monitoring and observing ocean conditions at global scales. Through the collective efforts of PMEL and its national and international research partners, our researchers have fundamentally advanc...

Multiple stressors co-occurring in coastal waters are of increasing concern to local fisheries. Many economically, culturally, or ecologically important species (e.g., oysters, crabs, pteropods) in the Pacific Northwest are already directly affected by ocean acidification (OA), warming, and hypoxia. Additional indirect economic impacts on the finfish industry are possible due to losses of prey species. Because of strong season...

The state of Washington’s Olympic coast is home to four US coastal treaty tribes who have relied on the region’s rich marine resources since time immemorial. The region is characterized by large dynamic ranges of physical and biogeochemical oceanographic parameters, particularly during the upwelling season (April–September). Here, we present novel estimates of ocean acidification metrics—pH and calcium carbonate saturation sta...

The accumulation of anthropogenic CO2 in the ocean has major ecological, socioeconomic, and biogeochemical impacts, with repercussions for the ocean as a critical carbon sink. Ocean acidification (OA) disproportionally affects marine calcifiers, among which pelagic zooplanktonic pteropods play a significant role in carbonate export. The pteropod, due to the susceptibility of its aragonite shell to rapid dissolution, is one of...

The chemistry of the global ocean is rapidly changing due to the uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2). This process, commonly referred to as ocean acidification (OA), is negatively impacting many marine species and ecosystems. In this study, we combine observations in the global surface ocean collected by NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory and Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory scientists an...

The ocean is warming, acidifying, and losing oxygen. The Global Ocean Ship-based Hydrographic Investigations Program (GO-SHIP) carries out repeat hydrographic surveys along specified transects throughout all ocean basins to allow accurate and precise quantification of changes in variables such as temperature, salinity, carbon, oxygen, nutrients, velocity, and anthropogenic tracers, and uses these observations to understand ven...

The Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) conducts global and regional oceanographic research in support of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) three mission areas: (1) understanding and predicting changes in climate, weather, oceans, and coasts; (2) sharing that knowledge with others; and (3) conserving and managing coastal and marine ecosystems and resources. Since its establishment in 197...

Assessing the status of ocean acidification across ocean and coastal waters requires standardized procedures at all levels of data collection, dissemination, and analysis. Standardized procedures for assuring quality and accessibility of ocean carbonate chemistry data are largely established, but a common set of best practices for ocean acidification trend analysis is needed to enable global time series comparisons, establish...

Effective data management plays a key role in oceanographic research as cruise-based data, collected from different laboratories and expeditions, are commonly compiled to investigate regional to global oceanographic processes. Here we describe new and updated best practice data standards for discrete chemical oceanographic observations, specifically those dealing with column header abbreviations, quality control flags, missing...

Assessing decapod sensitivity to regional-scale ocean acidification (OA) conditions is limited because of a fragmented understanding of the thresholds at which they exhibit biological response. To address this need, we undertook a three-step data synthesis: first, we compiled a dataset composed of 27,000 datapoints from 55 studies of decapod responses to OA. Second, we used statistical threshold analyses to identify OA thresho...

Exposure to the impact of ocean acidification (OA) is increasing in high-latitudinal productive habitats. Pelagic calcifying snails (pteropods), a significant component of the diet of economically important fish, are found in high abundance in these regions. Pteropods have thin shells that readily dissolve at low aragonite saturation state (Ω ar ), making them susceptible to OA. Here, we conducted a first integrated risk asses...

Assessing the vulnerability of marine invertebrates to ocean acidification (OA) requires an understanding of critical thresholds at which developmental, physiological, and behavioral traits are affected. To identify relevant thresholds for echinoderms, we undertook a three-step data synthesis, focused on California Current Ecosystem (CCE) species. First, literature characterizing echinoderm responses to OA was compiled, creati...

Increasing atmospheric CO 2 , cold water temperatures, respiration, and freshwater inputs all contribute to enhanced acidification in Arctic waters. However, ecosystem effects of ocean acidification (derived from anthropogenic and/or natural sources) in the Arctic Ocean are highly uncertain. Zooplankton samples and oceanographic data were collected in August 2012–2014 and again in August 2017 to investigate the pelagic sea sna...