FY 2020

Arctic region acidification research

Cross, J.N., W.C. Long, D.J. Pilcher, T.P. Hurst, R.A. Feely, and C. Stepien

Chapter 4 in NOAA Ocean, Coastal, and Great Lakes Acidification Research Plan: 2020-2029, Jewett, E.B., E.B. Osborne, K.M. Arzayus, K. Osgood, B.J. DeAngelo, and J.M. Mintz (eds.), https://oceanacidification.noaa.gov/ResearchPlan2020 (2020)

The Arctic Region includes the broad continental shelf areas surrounding northern Alaska, including the Northern Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort seas (for information on the Gulf of Alaska and Eastern Bering Sea, refer to Chapter 3: Alaska Region). Ocean acidification (OA) in this region is influenced by increasing concentrations of atmospheric carbon dissolving in cold surface waters as well as regional changes in seawater chemistry driven by advective input from neighboring regions, sea ice melt and riverine input as well as seasonal fluctuations in productivity that both draw down and release dissolved carbon in Arctic waters. The Arctic and its marine ecosystems provide food and cultural identity to subsistence communities that call the Alaskan Arctic home. While the U.S. Arctic is not currently home to a commercial fishery, northward migration of major fisheries stocks (e.g., Alaska pollock, Theragra chalcogramma, and Pacific cod, Gadus macrocephalus) from the Eastern Bering Sea may support a commercial fishery in the future. NOAA’s Arctic Region research goals are to:

Support targeted OA monitoring to increase understanding of progression and processes driving OA in the vast region of the Arctic and to inform regional OA models;

Conduct laboratory studies on the sensitivity and resilience of economically and ecologically important species to better understand ecosystem-level responses to OA and prudent management approaches; and

Use physical and biological understanding of Arctic OA to inform and develop regional adaptation strategies for communities and fisheries management decisions.