Oceans' growing acidity alarms scientists

Les Blumenthal | McClatchy Newspapers
last updated: December 14, 2007 04:50:58 PM

WASHINGTON — Seven hundred miles west of Seattle in the Pacific at Ocean Station Papa, a first-of-its-kind buoy is anchored to monitor a looming environmental catastrophe.

Forget about sea levels rising as glaciers and polar ice melt, and increasing water temperatures affecting global weather patterns. As the oceans absorb more and more carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, they're gradually becoming more acidic.

And some scientists fear that the change may be irreversible.