UK Ocean Acidification Research Project

Widespread concerns about ocean acidification emerged after the Royal Society Report "Ocean acidification due to increasing atmospheric CO2'‘ in 2005. Research at that time was limited to a few individuals. Since then numerous other national and international organisations have called for increased research effort into this emerging science area. The £12M, 5 year UK Ocean Acidification Research Programme (UKOA) is the UK’s response and is jointly funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).

Aims
•to reduce uncertainties in predictions of carbonate chemistry changes and their effects on marine biogeochemistry, ecosystems and other components of the Earth System
•to understand the responses to ocean acidification, and other climate change related stressors, by marine organisms, biodiversity and ecosystems and to improve understanding of their resistance or susceptibility to acidification
•to provide data and effective advice to policy makers and managers of marine bioresources on the potential size and timescale of risks, to allow for development of appropriate mitigation and adaptation strategies