| 2008 | |
| December 15-19 | American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting Session: Ocean Acidification: Impacts from the coast to open ocean based upon laboratory studies, proxy data and instrumental records. |
| October 6-9 |
The Ocean in a High CO2 World - II |
| July 29 | Marine Ecology Progress Series Publishes Theme Section on Ocean Fertilization A Theme Section on Ocean Iron Fertilization was published by the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series. The Section brings together 12 contributed papers that cover scientific, legal, ethical, environmental and logistical implications of large-scale iron fertilization of the oceans. The Theme Section is open-access and should be a valuable resource to educators, students, scientists, and the general public. For more information: Marine Ecology Progress Series |
| June 10-13 | Kick-off Meeting: EU FP 7 European Project of Ocean Acidification (EPOCA) EPOCA PIs gathered in Nice in June to launch this new 4 year project to investigate ocean acidification and its consequences. The EPOCA consortium consists of 105 PIs from 29 laboratories in 9 countries, under the lead of Jean-Pierre Gattuso, CNRS, France. For more information: visit the EPOCA web-site. |
| June 2-4 | Ocean acidification workshop, University of Tasmania, Australia The department of climate change and the Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems CRC hosted a 3-day ocean acidification workshop to address teh effects of global processes on ocean acidification, with particular emphasis on its effects in the Australian marine environment and the Southern Ocean. A report was published in August: Position Analysis: CO2 Emissions and Climate Change: Ocean impacts and adaptation issues. |
| May 19-30 | Convention on Biological Diversity Calls for Moratorium on Ocean Fertilization At the 9th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (19-30 May 2008), delegates from 191 countries adopted a document that some are calling a "de facto moratorium" on ocean fertilization activities. Countries are requested to ensure that ocean fertilization activities no take place until there is an adequate scientific basis. The delegates also agreed that the CBD should look to the London Convention for guidance on regulation of fertilization. The final version of the approved document will be released later this month by the CBD secretariat. For more informatin: CBD CoP 9 Final Report. |
| May 19-23 | The London Convention Scientific Group Examines Ocean Fertilization Ocean fertilization aimed at sequestering atmospheric CO2 was the main topic addressed at the 31st session of Scientific Group of the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter (the London Convention) (May 19-23, Guayaquil, Ecuador). The Scientific Group reviewed input from the IOC and other international organizations and discussed how current scientific understanding could be used to inform if and how ocean fertilization may be contrary to the aims of the Convention / Protocol. The Legal Group will review this information and summarize the legal views in a document for consideration by the next joint session of the governing bodies (27–31 October 2008) to determine what further action should be taken towards regulation of the issue of ocean fertilization under the London Convention and Protocol. The Report of the Working Group on Ocean Fertilization will be released later this month. For more information: visit the Resource Library section of the Ocean Acidification Network; Visit the LC / SG 31 web-site. |
| May 19-23 | The Effects of Climate Change on the World's Oceans |
| January 28-30 | European Science Foundation Ocean Acidification Strategic Workshop This workshop was developed to produce a science policy briefing to highlight potential ecological and economic impacts from ocean acidification and to highlight the needs for collaborative international research, with a particular focus on mobilizing national funding agencies within Europe to join resources and collaborate with non-EU partners to address this topic at the international level. The meeting was held in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, Spain. For more information: visit the ESF EuroCLIMATE website. |
| 2007 | |
| October 9-11 | Scoping Workshop on Ocean Acidification Research |
| October 1-5 | Ocean Acidification: Back to the Future |
| September 26-28 | Atmospheric CO2, Ocean Acidification, and Ecological Changes in Planktonic Calcifying Organims |
| September 26-27 | Exploring Ocean Iron Fertilization: the scientific, economic, legal and political basis |
| September 17-21 | Continental Shelf Carbon in a High CO2 World |
| May 10 | US Scientists Testify before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation May 10th: Scott Doney, Richard Feely, David O'Conover, Lara Hansen, James Watkins, and Gordon Kruse provided testimony on the Effects of Climate Change and Ocean Acidification on Living Marine Resources before a United States Senate Sub-Committee. For more information: Visit the Commerce Hearings Page for written testimony and archived web-cast. |
| May 2 - 4 | The Significance of Changes in Surface CO2 and Ocean pH in Shelf Sea Ecosystems |
| February 12 - 14 | Plymouth Marine Laboratory- Oceanographic Workshop February 12-14 2007 Devoted to the response of marine ecosystems to increasing levels of CO2; model validation, analysis and quantification of error; DMS production in the upper ocean; operational biophysical oceanography; and, bridging the gap between lower and higher trophic levels. For more information: please visit the workshop web-site. |
| February | New Rules set by the International Maritime Organization allow storage of CO2 under the seabed 9 February 2007: The IMO released a press briefing describing new amendments to the 1996 London "Dumping Convention" that were adopted at the First Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the London Protocol. Storage of CO2 in sub-seabed geological formations will be allowed as from 10 February 2007, while guidelines on how to store CO2 will be developed for adoption by the Parties to the Protocal in November 2007. Amendments to this decision legally rule out storage of CO2 in the water column or on the seabed. For more information: download the briefing (http://www.imo.org/Newsroom/mainframe.asp?topic_id=1472&doc_id=7772) or visit the IMO London Convention site (http://www.imo.org/home.asp?topic_id=1488). |
| January | IOC and SCOR release new Ocean Carbon Sequestration Watching Brief. In 2001, the IOC and SCOR developed a Watching Brief on Ocean Carbon Sequestration to inform Member States and the general public about the scientific, technical, and environmental issues surrounding this topic. In 2005, the IPCC published a special report on CO2 capture and storage that provides more up to date information about these issues, and the IOC and SCOR developed a summary of the ocean information presented in that document for the IOC Member States. For more information: download the brief (pdf 140kb). |
| 2006 | |
| September | Ocean Acidification - Modern Observations and Past Experiences (2006). This workshop, sponsored by IGBP and SCOR, examined future projections and uncertainties in ocean carbon chemistry and examined what is known from the geological record about past large-scale changes in ocean pH, carbon chemistry, and ecosystems. Information about this workshop, follow-up activities, and publications are available at: http://igbp-scor.pages.unibe.ch/index.html. |
| 2005 | |
| September | Special Issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans: "The Ocean in a High CO2 World" |
| September | IPCC Special Report: Carbon Dioxide Caputre and Storage For more information: Download the full report in English, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, or Arabic from the IPCC web-site. |
| June | Ocean Acidification Due to Increasing Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide For more information: Visit the Royal Society web-site and view its report. |
| April 18-20 | U.S.
Workshop on the Impacts of Increasing Atmospheric CO2 on Coral
Reefs and Other Marine Calcifiers. The USGS, in cooperation with NOAA and NSF,
hosted more than 45 scientists for a three day workshop in St.
Petersburg, Florida to compare research on the impact of increasing
CO2 on calcium carbonate formation of coral reef organisms and
other marine life, and propose courses of action to deal with
the impacts of rising CO2 on these organisms. |
| February 1-3 | Avoiding Dangerous
Climate Change. Met Office, Exeter. The aim of the
symposium was to advance scientific understanding of and encourage
an international scientific debate on the long term implications
of climate change, the relevance of stabilisation goals, and options
to reach such goals; and to encourage research on these issues. For more information: The final report is available on the symposium web-site: Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change: Report of the International Scientific Steering Committee (181 kB). Carol Turley (Plymouth Marine Laboratory, UK) led a discussion and presented a paper on "Reviewing the Impact of Increased Atmospheric CO2 on Oceanic pH and the Marine Ecosystem" |
| 2004 | |
| October 26-27 | OSPAR Workshop on CO2 Sequestration in Geological Structures. The OSPAR workshop on the environmental impact of placement of carbon dioxide in geological structures in the maritime area, took place in Trondheim, Norway 26-27 October 2004. The workshop, which was co-hosted by the Norwegian Ministry of the Environment and the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, brought together 60 participants from nine countries. Presentations included "What are the Effects of CO2 on the Marine Environment?" by Carol Turley, and "Biological Impact of Elevated Ocean CO2 Concentrations" by Hans-Otto Poertner. For more information: |
| May 10-12 | The Ocean in a High-CO2 World. The symposium addressed the biological and biogeochemical consequences of increasing atmospheric and oceanic CO2 levels, and possible strategies for mitigating atmospheric increases. Topics ranged from ocean physics, to chemistry and biology, including the impacts of elevated CO2 levels on marine life, the dissolution of calcium carbonate, and the impacts on coral reefs. Speakers also evaluated the possible benefits and impacts of surface fertilization and deep-ocean CO2 injection strategies. Symposium participants did not address whether it would be a good policy choice to sequester carbon dioxide in the ocean, but did identify what scientific information is available, and what is still needed, to make informed policy decisions. For more information: Visit the 2004 Symposium web-site. |
