Arctic Ocean acidifying up to four times as fast as other oceans, study finds

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By Karen McVeigh, The Guardian. 

Excerpt: Acidification of the western Arctic Ocean is happening three to four times faster than in other ocean basins, a new study has found. The ocean, which absorbs a third of all of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, has grown more acidic because of fossil fuel use. Rapid loss of sea ice in the Arctic region over the past three decades has accelerated the rate of long-term acidification, according to the study, published in Science on Thursday. ...If sea ice continues to vanish in the western Arctic, the process could continue and intensify over the next few decades, the scientists predict. The research follows a separate study in August, which found that the Arctic has warmed at about four times the global average rate over the past 43 years. The faster warming, known as Arctic amplification, is a feedback process driven by melting sea ice, which is also driving faster acidification, the researchers say.…

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