Arctic Ocean 'acidifying rapidly'

Photo1: Saunders Island and Wolstenholme Fjord with Kap Atholl in the background is shown in this picture taken during an Operation IceBridge survey flight in April 2013.
Photo 2: arctic volcano.

The Arctic seas are being made rapidly more acidic by carbon-dioxide emissions, according to a new report.

Scientists from Norway's Center for International Climate and Environmental Research monitored widespread changes in ocean chemistry in the region.

They say even if CO2 emissions stopped now, it would take tens of thousands of years for Arctic Ocean chemistry to revert to pre-industrial levels.

Many creatures, including commercially valuable fish, could be affected.

They forecast major changes in the marine ecosystem, but say there is huge uncertainty over what those changes will be.

It is well know that CO2 warms the planet, but less well-known that it also makes the alkaline seas more acidic when its absorbed from the air.

The Arctic

The Arctic region contains a vast ice-covered ocean roughly centred on the Earth's geographic North Pole
The Sun doesn't rise at all on the shortest day of the year within the Arctic Circle
Humans have inhabited the Arctic region for thousands of years, and the current population is four million
Geologists estimate the Arctic may hold up to 25% of the world's remaining oil and natural gas
Watch the dramatic retreat of some of the world's largest glaciers