Abstract
Excerpt: Empirical data to evaluate how ocean chemistry is changing due to the absorption of anthropogenic carbon dioxide is severely lacking. How these changes will affect biogenic calcification rates in coastal waters is also unknown. Lack of baseline data on carbonate saturation state and pCO2 on the inner west Florida shelf, a low gradient calcium carbonate platform, inhibits the ability of managers and scientists to predict ecosystem change resulting from ocean acidification. Current saturation state models using remote sensing data are generally too coarse to be useful for the Gulf of Mexico, do not include nearshore and inner-shelf data, and lack information for specific important ecosystems, such as Florida’s coral reefs. Maps depicting pCO2 and carbonate saturation states over large latitudinal gradients are needed on the Florida shelf and for specific localities where significant decline of carbonate ecosystems, habitats, and calcifying organisms are predicted over the next decade.
