Oceans Day in Copenhagen

COPENHAGEN -- The 75 percent of the earth got its say at the Copenhagen climate talks today.

And a significant group of Woods Hole researchers were at the day-long Ocean Day conference. 

I wasn't able to attend the event, but in the afternoon, I had a sit down with two Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution scientists, Carin Ashjian and Richard Camilli, to fill me in on the morning part of the conference, designed to shed light on the importance of oceans, coasts, and small island states as the climate changes. Oceans have helped keep rising global temperatures in check by absorbing about half of the manmade emissions of greenhouse gases since the start of the Industrial Revolution.

But as that C02 is dissolving, it's lowering the ph of the ocean, making it more acidic. And at Ocean Day, scientists discussed how warm was too warm for the ocean to get. While countries in negotiations have largely accepted a goal of limiting carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to 450 parts per million, that figure is likely to result in some marine organisms being hit with a one-two climate punch. Corals, for example, can suffer bleaching from rising temperatures, and more acidic waters can eat away at their ability to form.

Speakers also discussed the next-generation of sophisticated autonomous vehicles that not only take photographs of the sea floor but navigate the ocean's depths to perform complex tasks and create maps.

About 20 scientists in total are in Copenhagen from the Woods Hole Consortium, whose members include the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), and Woods Hole Research Center (WHRC). The consortium was formed in April 2009 to bring the three organizations' combined scientific power to bear on some of the major issues facing society today.