30/6/2025–|Last update: 10:26 (Mecca time)
A recent study showed that ocean acidification has exceeded the safe limit in vast areas of the global marine environment at a depth of up to 200 meters, and the effect was especially severe in the polar areas.
The researchers found that 60% of the surroundings of the world exceeded the safe borders of ocean acids to a depth of 200 meters, compared to 40% of them on the surface, which raised the anxiety of scientists because most marine creatures are found in this region, and the effects of acidification on biological diversity in the major depths are completely unknown.
Ocean acidification is an additional pressure factor on marine life, which already faces pressure from multiple threats associated with climate change, including marine heat waves, low oxygen levels in sea water, along with other direct human effects, including pollution, overfishing and mining in the depths of the seas.
“The exacerbation of the acidity of the ocean is not a very surprising result,” said the main author of study, Helen Vendilla, a biological periphery scientist at the UK’s Limouth Laboratory.
“In my estimation, this new study confirms what we expected. Unfortunately, we exceed the safe limit of ocean acids,” says Johan Roxterom, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Report Research in Germany, who did not participate in the current study.
Roxterom adds that the increasing evidence of the exacerbation of the acidity of the ocean should stimulate a much more ambitious level than ocean protection, as well as take quick climatic measures.
Habitat
The Vendilay team concluded that 4 of the 7 oceanic basins exceeded the planetary boundaries of ocean acids, as polar water and areas of high oceans were especially affected.
Vendillay says this is anxiety for marine life, because this part of the water column is the place where a lot of marine biological diversity flourishes on Earth.
The researchers found that the high levels of ocean acidity may have already caused “significant declines” in the habitats of some organisms, as tropical and semi -tropical reefs lost 43% of their appropriate habitats.
As for the polar wings, which is a type of naval snacks, it swims freely, and is considered an essential part of the food chain. It has lost 61% of its appropriate habitats, while the coastal shellfish lost 13%.
Experts note that these increased levels cause great concern when taking into account the damage of the world’s oceans from other pressure factors, including sea heat waves caused by climate change, low oxygen levels in the ocean, excessive nutrition, and direct human effects, such as overfishing and pollution from long -term sources, including precise plastic and raw wastewater.
“The results are definitely concerned for coral reefs and shellfish, and many other calcium -dependent organisms in their shells and bone structures,” asserts Helen Fox, an expert in the coal of coral reefs in California, who did not participate in the last research.
The troubled treaty
The advocates of preserving the environment believes that protecting the maritime environment globally is very too late for efforts to protect the land environment. At the 2025 United Nations Oceanic Conference, which was recently concluded in France, a group of new protected maritime areas and ocean protection obligations were announced, as countries went towards ratifying the Agreement of Maritime Biological Diversity in areas outside the national state, also known as the Upper Seas Treaty.
This international agreement aims to enhance the protection of 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030, while establishing legal mechanisms to protect the areas of the highest seas. 50 countries have ratified the treaty so far, but their entry into force requires the ratification of 60 countries.
In a comment published in the “Nature” magazine this June, Roxterome and other scientists, including prominent marine biologist Silvia Earl, warned that the Upper Seas Treaty, despite its importance, would likely be applied for years. They stress the need to take urgent and immediate steps to protect the world’s oceans from all forms of exploitation.
The new results of the study emphasize the urgent need to enhance the protection of the world’s oceans, as experts confirm that carbon emissions need a significant reduction and enhance the ocean protection significantly to allow environmental systems enough time to adapt and recover one day.
Researchers recently warned that the opportunity to keep warning below the 1.5% level in the Paris Climate Agreement is fading quickly, with only 3 years remaining. Several analyzes concluded that unless a radical correction of the path is made, the world is pushing towards a catastrophic increase in temperature ranging between 2% and 3% over the pre -industrial levels by 2100.
However, studies indicate that even if carbon dioxide levels are reduced in the atmosphere today, the consequences of ocean acidification will remain with us for several centuries, as the oceans continue to absorb carbon dioxide, which leads to changing sea chemistry and degree of acids.