How will the oceans change with rising carbon dioxide?
Next month Hobart will host the 4th Ocean in a High CO2 World symposium.
Held every four years, this will be the first to be held in the Southern Hemisphere, and is expected to attract around 350 delegates.
As part of the symposium, a free Public Forum has been arranged on Wednesday 4 May at the Hotel Grand Chancellor from 7.30pm to discuss ocean acidification, the science, and likely impacts.
The Forum will be moderated by the CSIRO's Dr Alistair Hobday, Senior Principal Research Scientist, Oceans and Atmosphere, with speakers to include:
Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2)
levels are rising as a result of human activities, such as fossil fuel use, and
are increasing the acidity of seawater.
This process is known as ocean acidification has been well observed over recent decades and will continue in the future as atmospheric CO2 levels continue to rise.
Ocean acidification has been identified as a significant risk is likely to impact the entire marine ecosystem.
These will impact on the important ecosystems services that these marine environments provide such as fisheries, tourism, coastal protection and food security.
Impacts arising from both elevated global ocean temperatures and changing marine chemistry have been recorded in the shellfish industry on the US coast at Oregon, in both the Arctic and Southern Oceans, and tropical reef systems.
The conference is being coordinated locally by CSIRO's Dr Andrew Lenton and Assoc Prof Catriona Hurd, from the University of Tasmania's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS).
WHEN: 7:30 - 9pm, Wednesday 4 May 2016
WHERE: Hotel Grand Chancellor,, Hobart
REGISTER: www.events.utas.edu.au Free entry
Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies
Phone: +61 3 6226 6379
ABN: 30 764 374 782 CRICOS Provider Code: 00586B